Saturday, July 12, 2014

Sit Down Please…

by Courtney Dirk 
One of my favorite places in Cagli is in the piazza. I love to watch the residents walk to and fro. I take pleasure sitting down and observing how the cagliese figure out where they need to be, but most of all I enjoy the sense of ease that I feel when I enter the piazza. The lively piazza is made up of many different scenes from Jake scooping gelato, to the older gentleman drinking his wine or the adolescents hanging out in a circle figuring out what to do next.

Generally when I come to the piazza I have no problem sitting down and relaxing while I appreciate the fine crafted pistachio and cream gelato. This time was different; I just came from class and did not want to sit down because I knew that I was not staying long. I saw a few other students talking with some of the Jake's regulars so I approached them with a Ciao and Come sta?

I then proceeded to hear two different Italian men tell me I need to sit or try to give me their chair. I explained that I did not want to sit and standing was just fine for me and then I thanked them for their kind gesture. The two eager gentlemen proceeded to really enforce that I sit, to the point that one of them grabbed a chair and threw it my direction.

A fellow student of mine said to sit down they see you as fragile. I proceeded to listen and not try to piss any more Italians off while they are just trying to relax and take in the afternoon sun.

For these two men they both were under the impression that I need to sit in their presence and were going to go through great strides to make that known. This was new for me, but I could get used to the chivalrous gesture.

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