Arcadia Italy

In Rome, one doesn’t just “take the heat”, she absorbs it, assimilates it, becomes it. In my primer years, before becoming fully Italian, I would roll around naked on the ceramic tile floors of my newlywed apartment in a small bowl of a city in Tuscany, framed so closely by the Apennines so as to prohibit the passage of air. My soft, white, New England flesh would absorb the cool from the ceramic tiles. Rolling from one row of tiles to the next, I’d pine for a New England chill.

It has not gotten any less hot in Italy, in fact, conventional wisdom tells us it is getting hotter. It is so hot as to defy the ordinary; high heels of slim sandals sink into the sidewalk; technology flits and wanes, the electrical system in my car only works at night. My eyelids weigh, my breathing slows, I become a slightly southern drawl-version of my former self. The earth is telling us to slow down and rearrange.

While some parts of the world might think inventing a larger motor to propel more coolant into airflow so that humans may take cover in artificially lit and controlled temperature malls, homes and movie theaters, thus adding monumentally to the already threatened state of our globe, the Mediterranean in its ancient wisdom responds more naturally to the earth's beckoning. There is something to be said for the adjustment to climate and seasons on the part of the human race. Adapting to nature, in and of itself, affects our inner being in a humbling way, adding an element of perspective, deeper meaning and proportion to our livelihoods and daily routine.

The earth tells us to slow down and rearrange, and that is when time for love, family, adventure, housework, exploration, mental relaxation and restoration, togetherness is found. There are endless studies which point to the efficacy of a rested mind: the antidote to burn-out. Not to mention the favor we are doing to climate change by closing down our factories and office buildings, stores, bars and restaurants for a full month. (Fear not: it is done in an organized fashion so that no neighborhood is too far from an open pharmacy or grocer; doctors are replaced by young substitutes, eager for experience; some restauranteurs, pizzerie, caffes take turns one neighborhood to the next, although many remain closed for the 30 days.)

The August ferie in Italy, which revolve around Ferragosto, the 15th of August, the Christian day of Assumption of Mother Mary, are as sacrosanct as Christmas and Easter.

But the ferie date back even further. The Emperor Augustus in 18 BC instituted the feriae Augusti (Augustus' rest), adding a number of agricultural feasts which each celebrated various heights of the harvest. One such harvest, still popular today, is the Vinalia Rustica on August 19th, or the first grape harvest of the year still celebrated in certain parts of Lazio. The Palio dell'Assunta in Siena, the controversial, unbridled horse race in Siena's Piazza del Campo, refers back to the ancient festivities, many of which featured mules, oxen and horses, unbridled and adorned with flowers and wreaths to mark their rest day.

During the fascist regime, train and public transportation schemes were created to help lower and middle class Italians travel to visit other parts of Italy and the "dopolavoro" organizations were founded, thus we have virtually every public and state entity's beach club or summer colony for children of the workers still today.

Traditionally, from the early 1900s and still today in many cases, in the many factories of the north, large gifts in the form of food or gas vouchers or bonuses were dispensed to workers (the famous 14th month, the 13th being dispensed at Christmastime), many of whom took advantage of the holiday month to return to their villages in the south of Italy and the islands to be with family. It was often the case (right up until a generation ago) that a father would live 11 months a year in Northern Italy or Germany and only see his family in Sicily or other parts of the south at Christmas and in August.

And so it is we weave our modern lives into ancient tradition and take stock, reflect, grow, love and recreate as nature would have us do in the hottest weeks of the year. And we do so in the certainty that the creativity and generosity of spirit restored will greatly benefit our students and colleagues for the rest of the year.

Buone Ferie a tutti da tutte noi!