The square, the church, and the Osteria. In the past, those were the meeting places of Italian people, in small towns and in the cities' suburbs. Places where the rich and the poor used to sit close, where the cultured and the uninstructed could find a way to communicate, sometimes - in the Osteria - around a table, with a pack of playing cards and a carafe of wine.
Literate Nicolo' Macchiavelli was one of the greatest Italians, nevertheless he didn't disdain to spend long evenings in the Osteria with friends, daring in some common amusements. Accompanied by barreled wine, the Osterias never lacked some traditional dishes or a local product, making luscious meals. The Osterias, at the same time, were the places where many people tried to alleviate life's hardness, consoling themselves with some shots in excess. This antique image of the Osteria existed in Italy until the advent of the modern era.
The two World Wars, the industrialization and the strong movement to urban life, changed radically most Italians' lifestyle, giving a hard stroke to the antique Osterias' fascinating world. In a few decades the Osteria was substituted, almost everywhere, by another "institution", also very Italian: the Bar. The Bar for its own nature is a place of transit, fast consumption and too quick socialization. |
