Dmitriy Molla

Piazza-culture is extremely pro family and I'm experiencing first hand why and how. I live in a remote medieval village in Italy with my children and here, the tradition is for everyone to come down to the piazza in the afternoon/evening and just hang out. The parents drink a coffee or a beer, the children play together, often an ice cream truck shows up (selling real iced cream of course), elderly people hang around reading books, socialising and gossiping. Even though I don't speak Italian very well, I am learning so fast because of these evenings. My children don't need me to organize social activities for them because it is built into the society. I make friends easily with multiple age-groups of people. Childcare and motherhood has become drastically less isolating for me because I don't have to organize coffee meetings with friends that I put into my calendar and then it becomes a special interrupting event of the day, rather, we just all show up at the same place regularly and friendship and socialising is part of the rhythm of living. Children get fresh air and exercise in a natural way. There are dogs and cats that hang out and everyone looks after them; they don't pose a threat or nuisance to anyone. I notice also that although the piazza is packed with people every evening, there is zero litter, and everyone respects their surroundings. This wouldn't be possible by the way without the Italian way of being. You can't just put a piazza in any culture and have it work. The Italians are extremely warm and open-hearted and that's what makes this work. I know because I've seen similar physical settings in other cities and the coldness/insularity of other cultures precludes this kind of open social atmosphere. Italian piazza culture helps bring all those groups of people together who are normally isolated in capitalistic/materialistic societies: the elderly, the small children and the mothers. The main threat to this culture are foreigners who move to Italy for the weather and the cost of living, but reject Catholicism, Christ, family and the core aspects of Italian culture which are all about loving your neighbour. This little pocket of humanity in the world needs to grow. We need to protect this and we need more of it. If you want the benefits of a Christian society, you can't turn your nose up at the values that create it. (picture not mine)

Piazza-culture is extremely pro family and I'm experiencing first hand why and how. I live in a remote medieval village in Italy with my children and here, the tradition is for everyone to come down to the piazza in the afternoon/evening and just hang out. The parents drink a coffee or a beer, the children play together, often an ice cream truck shows up (selling real iced cream of course), elderly people hang around reading books, socialising and gossiping. Even though I don't speak Italian very well, I am learning so fast because of these evenings. My children don't need me to organize social activities for them because it is built into the society. I make friends easily with multiple age-groups of people. Childcare and motherhood has become drastically less isolating for me because I don't have to organize coffee meetings with friends that I put into my calendar and then it becomes a special interrupting event of the day, rather, we just all show up at the same place regularly and friendship and socialising is part of the rhythm of living. Children get fresh air and exercise in a natural way. There are dogs and cats that hang out and everyone looks after them; they don't pose a threat or nuisance to anyone. I notice also that although the piazza is packed with people every evening, there is zero litter, and everyone respects their surroundings. This wouldn't be possible by the way without the Italian way of being. You can't just put a piazza in any culture and have it work. The Italians are extremely warm and open-hearted and that's what makes this work. I know because I've seen similar physical settings in other cities and the coldness/insularity of other cultures precludes this kind of open social atmosphere. Italian piazza culture helps bring all those groups of people together who are normally isolated in capitalistic/materialistic societies: the elderly, the small children and the mothers. The main threat to this culture are foreigners who move to Italy for the weather and the cost of living, but reject Catholicism, Christ, family and the core aspects of Italian culture which are all about loving your neighbour. This little pocket of humanity in the world needs to grow. We need to protect this and we need more of it. If you want the benefits of a Christian society, you can't turn your nose up at the values that create it. (picture not mine)

Prettiest airport in the country.