Where have all the Italians gone?

August is a peculiar month in Italy. Certain cities, such as Caserta, become Spaghetti Western tumbleweed towns. Bigger, landlocked tourist centers, such as Siena, Roma and Milano would be completely empty if it weren’t for hordes of Rick Steves’ toting (Roma), French-speaking (Siena), fashion-craving (Milano) tourists that pilgrimage to interior Italy during the heat of August. So, if the smaller cities are completely vacant, and the bigger cities have been replaced with a temporary population of newly-appendaged people protectively baring their backpacks on their chests….where have all the Italians gone?

               Well, as we’re talking about a country with about 60 million people, the answer, of course, varies. What is different from a country like Canada, is that everyone, en masse, has their vacation in August, usually all around ferragosto (August 15^th). There are some poor souls who have to work in August, but they are usually people who profit from the August tourism in seaside areas such as Puglia, Calabria or Sicilia. There are also the bureaucrats who just can’t seem to get a break, even in August.

An example of an Italian office-worker who must slave away in the heat of August, would be someone who works in the ever-enigmatic Poste Italiane (the Italian post office). In Canada, the post office is responsible for… the post. In Italy, it is so much more than that. If there is ever something paperwork-related to do, chances are, it must be done at the post office. Did you get a fine on the train for not validating your ticket? Pay that fine at the post office. Did you just arrive from Canada and need to get your visa documents? Why, that paperwork will be at the post office, not at the city hall where you first must present yourself and where you subsequently need to bring back the paperwork.  Do you need to mail a letter? Well, I guess you could go to the post office, but it will probably take them a while to figure out the postage you need, (and you might just need to correct them, because a postcard to Canada does not cost 3.30€, thank-you-very-much). To be frank, they’re not as accustomed to dealing with postal matters as they are non-postal matters at the post. Better off just go to a Tobacco shop for your stamp. Basically, even in August, you will find many Italians, workers and citizens alike, hanging around the Poste Italiane, dealing with all sorts of frustrating bureaucratic matters.

               Besides working in the tourism sector or in the post office, where are the other millions of Italians that have vacated the city centers? The vast majority of Italians go traveling somewhere; however, “go traveling” is a subjective term. For some of my friends, they went as far and wide as the east coast of Canada this summer, trading the imposing man-made wonder, the Coliseum, for the imposing natural wonder, Niagara Falls, and the ancient Italian city of Pompeii for the as-ancient-as-it-gets Canadian city of Quebec. Others hop into campers and go to various campsites around Italy or to other Mediterranean coasts. For the most part though, as I noted in a succinct Italian Groupon promotion, there are two main categories for Italian vacations: Volete andare al mare o in montagne? (Do you want to go to the seaside or to the mountains?)

               There is one uniting goal when choosing either of these opposing locales: escape the heat. As this poor Canadian noted, especially one particular week in mid-July, the city heat in Italy can render the hours between 12pm-5pm completely unbearable, hence, the exodus to higher ground or to the beach. While at first I found it a bit strange that everyone takes their vacation at the exact same time, I quickly learned why people need August off. It’s just too hard to function in intense heat. May as well go into the shade of the mountains or take a dip in the sea and call it a month until September comes.

               As Europe has become increasingly smaller these past years with the rise in popularity of cheap flights, a lot of Italians take their August vacation to neighbouring countries’ sunny hotspots. I joined the Italian masses this August in Croatia, which is very much “the new Greece,” especially this year, the last year with the Kuna before the Euro storms in and raises the price of everything. In certain Croatian towns, especially those completely devoted to sea-worship, I felt as I were in Italy. With all of the tanned olive-toned bodies around and the chatter of carefree Italian mixed with the thud of omnipresent electro-bass (which is very à-la-mode at any big Croatia beach town), I could have been in Puglia for all intents and purposes. Going to Croatia (in August) was certainly an Italian affair.

               For a tourist to go to Italy in August, it will be a rather particular month, and probably less of an “Italian experience” unless said tourist were to find one of the Italian vacation hot-spots. Hint: these hot-spots are not to be found in your Lonely Planet or Rick Steves’. The Italians know which places (Cinque Terre, I’m looking at you) attract foreigners, and while some do go there, others specifically avoid these crowds. My advice would be, to truly find an Italian experience in August in the next few years, head to Makarska, Croatia. Either that, or get a parking ticket, and get in line at the Poste.  

              

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