Passeggiata
Passeggiata - a stroll, promenade, ramble
Taking a passeggiata with family on weekends or in the summer time before the night meal, is quite a sight. We don't have anything like it in the USA, except during festivals. In Italy, a passeggiata is a normal part of life, whether it be in the center of town/city or on natural trails.
Last Saturday night, Rita and I were taking a passeggiata through downtown Turin with Alessandro, newly back from his 3 year journey around the world. Rita and I were recalling for Alessandro our visit to the outdoor market (near my apartment) when I first came to Turin.
Every Saturday there's a HUGE market that extends several neighborhoods around Porta Palazzo (generally an outdoor clothing and shoe market around a central indoor food market). On my street are all the antique stores, the street behind mine the furniture shops. The street intersecting ranges from clothing to shoes to purses to cellphones and accessories. On this street most of the stuff is stolen, laid out neatly on blankets on the ground while the legal wares are on tables. The purpose for the blankets became perfectly clear when Rita said, Kate, look look, come over here, indicating a spot near a wall. I looked up from a table of cell phone chargers to see a domino effect started by a man giving a signal at one end of the street, all the blankets being swept up as the men ran in different directions, into buildings or their wares stuffed into bags and then leaning against a wall, seemingly innocent. Soon the street was all but bare. I looked up at the corner where the signal man was standing, to see a group of 3-4 policemen, taking a passeggiata (also meaning walking slowly), their hands clasped behind their backs, looking from side to side at all the wares, having snippets of conversation with each other, slight smiles on their faces. I stared agog, as they walked past, all eyes on them. As soon as they rounded another corner, the men trickled back with their blankets and laid out their wares to conduct business with their next customer. Mamma mia!
1 comment:
That's the exactly what I witnessed in Florence almost two months ago. It was a scary experience because Jill and I was walking down the street when all of a sudden a herd of black people with those "blanket" behing hauled over their shoulders running so fast from the corner toward us. OMG, i was so scared that I didn't know what was going on. Sooner or later, i realized it was the "illegal" black market and they were probably be chased by policemen.
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