Piazza Bologna: Right in my apartment I could hear a few things about the place I was living. First, every night around 11pm or midnight, I could hear garbage pickup. In the States, garbage pickup is usually in the morning; not so in Italy, or at least not in our neighborhood. Second, on the weekend, I could hear the sounds of young people socializing on our piazza. While many people do go to bars, it is also very common to take a beer to a piazza and hang out there with your friends for the evening. From the few nights I was up late enough, it seemed that people stayed out on the piazza until 2 or 3am on the weekends. This was something you could observe throughout the city. If you walk around on a weekend night, you will see (and hear) people in any of the major piazzas. On weeknights, people were out in the piazza, but they usually headed a bit earlier. Third, my room looked out over our apartment's courtyard, and in the early mornings, I could hear the singing of birds through the window. In Assisi too, I came across a cheerful little blackbird singing a beautiful song. Fourth, the barking of dogs was indicative of something that we quickly learned about Italians: they LOVE dogs. If I were to guess, I would say that at least every one in three people had a dog. They were everywhere, and they were all shapes and sizes. In particular, the Italians seemed to love dachshunds and German Shepherds. Fifth, we heard many car horns! When they drive, Italians try to fill every possible little space on the road, and they are not the most patient of drivers. Also, the number of vespas weaving in and out of traffic complicates things. This means that Italians hit their car horns way more often than Oregonians or Minnesotans.
Language: This might be obvious, yes, but throughout my time in Italy, I heard a different language. It is interesting the ways in which language can change the way you perceive place. Not only does it cue you in to the fact that you are in a foreign place, but depending on how much you of that language you can comprehend, it can change the way you understand a place. Italian is a beautiful language, and getting to hear it spoken so often was a treat. Even when I couldn't understand every word, listening to peoples' tones (and watching their hand gestures--Italians love hand gestures) told a lot about their conversations. By the end of the trip, I was able to understand much of the informal conversations that I would hear in shops and the grocery store!
Music: While in Rome, I went to my first opera! The music was beautiful, and it demonstrated the way in which you can tell a story through music. In churches we often heard gentle organ music playing, offering a spiritual atmosphere. In Assisi we heard drumming, rehearsal for a Medieval festival of some sort. And in Ferrara, we actually ran across one such festival, getting to hear medieval music (horns and drumming) in tandem with flag dancing. Getting to hear these different musical performances told me something culturally about the places I was in and the way that they see and choose to present their history.
Water: As an Oregonian, I love the sound of rain, and I got a lot of it while we were in Italy. In Rome, when it rained, it poured, and listening to it from my apartment felt very cozy. On the northern trip, it sprinkled a lot of the time, and because I brought an umbrella, I listened to the tap tap of the rain as I toured the various cities. In Sicily, I heard the sound of the waves crashing. When I was out swimming in the water, I could hear the waves rushing all around, and when we stood out on the pier to watch the sunset, each crashing wave sounded like a mini bomb going off. Listening to the ocean reminds you how rough and wild it can be.
Anyway, I guess was I am trying to get at, is that we observe a lot of different things as we travel and get a sort of sensory overload, but sometimes it is interesting to isolate those senses and understand what each one tells you. By showing you so many photos, I've shown you what I learned through sight, but I also learned about and experienced the places I was in through sound, smell and taste (see the Sicily food post for a taste example!) as well, and I thought it would be fun to share a bit about that too!
Water: As an Oregonian, I love the sound of rain, and I got a lot of it while we were in Italy. In Rome, when it rained, it poured, and listening to it from my apartment felt very cozy. On the northern trip, it sprinkled a lot of the time, and because I brought an umbrella, I listened to the tap tap of the rain as I toured the various cities. In Sicily, I heard the sound of the waves crashing. When I was out swimming in the water, I could hear the waves rushing all around, and when we stood out on the pier to watch the sunset, each crashing wave sounded like a mini bomb going off. Listening to the ocean reminds you how rough and wild it can be.
Anyway, I guess was I am trying to get at, is that we observe a lot of different things as we travel and get a sort of sensory overload, but sometimes it is interesting to isolate those senses and understand what each one tells you. By showing you so many photos, I've shown you what I learned through sight, but I also learned about and experienced the places I was in through sound, smell and taste (see the Sicily food post for a taste example!) as well, and I thought it would be fun to share a bit about that too!
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