Posted by pietro on Monday, May 15, 2017 in 2017 Blog post.

 

The most elaborate building in most Italian cities is the Duomo, or chapel.  On Monday from 10:30 to 11 am I sat on a bench in front of the Cefalù Duomo and observed the local population.  Built in 1131 local mass is still held in the impressive structure weekly.  There seemed to be mostly tourists around as they were dressed in brighter clothing, usually in shorts.  The locals usually seemed more tan and to be more dressed up: men in pants and a button down, women in pants and a nicer shirt like a blouse.  This is different than cities in the U.S. where the average person is not extremely dressed up on a Monday morning.  Around half the people have sunglasses, and about one out of ten is wearing a hat.  Not many are in fancy clothing so it is difficult to tell socioeconomic class—probably because it is late Monday morning.   However, there are a few in button downs with a suit jacket.  Some women in more elaborate sun dresses.  I do not notice any jewelry except earrings, worn both by women and men.  I think the difference between local and tourist dress had to do with the weather.  For native Sicilians a 75 degree morning is fairly cool and they are comfortable in pants.  For those of us from nations with cooler weather this is shorts weather.  Another giveaway of tourists was those who were wearing backpacks.  In America, I don’t notice many people wearing backpacks besides those in school and at 10:30 on a school day most kids were in class.

There was steady stream of people flowing in and out of the Duomo throughout the morning.  Since Monday morning is not a typical day for mass, I think it was mostly tourists interested in seeing the interior of the Chapel.  The body language of most people in the piazza was typically neutral with their hands at their sides, but when engaged in a conversation their hands would often fly around, especially as they became more excited and their volume level rose.  This is fairly similar to the U.S., although in general I observe less hand motions to accompany speech in America.  People were walking around with fairly similar posture to what I remember in America.  A large difference between what I observed and America was cell phone usage.  I noticed occasionally someone would take a call, but in America I notice people walking around talking on the phone extremely often. Additionally, more people seemed comfortable sitting in silence and just relaxing.  In America, I feel people are usually eating, talking, or reading something but I don’t often notice them just feeling present.  Most around me seemed to be around 40 or 50, but there were all ages up to 70. The restaurants were very filled, as shown in the picture below.  They ranged from three quarters filled to completely filled the entire time I was watching.  I do not notice American restaurants as filled on Monday mornings, probably due to the fact that the piazza is a large tourist attraction.

Since I was sitting on a bench, it was interesting to note who would sit next to me, do what, and for how long.  I avoided interacting with them to keep this assignment to strictly observation.  One man sat for awhile and did nothing but look around like me, occasionally whistling a little tune.  Then a couple of women sat down and talked for awhile before heading into the Duomo.  Finally, a man sat down and stayed there until we left.

The benches became more and more filled since I sat down.  People sit close to each other, but do not infringe on space too much.  Overall, they seem to be more comfortable packing in closer than in the U.S.  Several joined me for awhile on the bench I am sitting.  The interactions of people around me seem to be more warm and inviting than what I notice in America.  Couples walk around holding hands similar to America, but when seemingly any two people greet each other they hug and kiss both cheeks.  Waiters/waitresses enunciate well, project their voices, smile, and talk directly to street walkers to attract customers.  In America, I don’t notice the waiting staff outside of restaurants enticing people inside, but here they talk to people to bring them inside.

Overall, the piazza had a much more relaxed feel than a public park in America.  People would sit down and just enjoy the morning together not feeling pressure to keep up conversation or complete a task.  Possibly a product of the fantastic weather, but I also found it more comfortable to just sit down and do nothing in public than I would in America.

In the future on this trip I would like to see what the square would look like in terms of foot traffic and the clothing people are wearing on a Monday morning or Saturday night when people are going to the Duomo for Mass. Also, how would the interactions between people change during the night when people are feeling more social?  This spot attracts a lot of tourists because it is so picturesque so I am also curious at what time is it easiest to find the most locals in the piazza.