I have to vent a little.
The pedestrian in Verona is below dogshit. No kidding. This is the pecking order...
Buses, trucks, cars, motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, strollers, dogs, dogshit, pedestrians.
Step off the curb into a crosswalk at peril of your life.
Be in a crosswalk without making eye contact with a driver of anything at your peril.
Try to make eye contact with a vehicle driver who is purposefully looking the other way, with his head swiveled away from you as far as it can go.
Take your eyes off the pavement of a sidewalk for an instant (i.e., to answer your cellphone) and slip on dogshit only to hear, after the fact, Attenzione, signora!
Walk on a sidewalk towards any two Veronese and expect to get shouldered out of the way.
Flatten yourself against a building to let a truck go by on a narrow street, and watch the sideview mirror pass a centimeter from your nose, at full speed.
Start to cross a street and, hearing a moto or a scooter approaching, run for your life.
This I will not miss.
3 comments:
Hi Edi! I read your posts often on Expats and couldn't find an email address for you. I am possibly moving to Verona (my husband is in the Italian air force) and wanted to talk with you about what it is like there. As a new reader to your blog, I was wondering what you might be able to tell me about the city. I know it wasn't what you had expected, but I am sure you have come across little things that make life easier there. If you could offer advice, resources, or anything at all it would be appreciated! I also read that you know someone that runs a consignment store in Verona? Like I said, if you could tell me anything good or bad that would be wonderful! My email is jessica@jessicainrome.com
I saw your comment a week or so ago, but just didn't have the heart to reply. However, you sound like a nice woman asking a reasonable question, so I need to answer.
We knew no one when we moved here. We chose Verona after studying language here, renting an apartment for a month 'to try it out', looking at its central location for European travel, seeing all the cultural offerings, etc etc. My husband is an amateur cyclist. His cycling club was our entre into the social life of Verona; we have made many wonderful friends here. I found a lifelong best friend here, as well. We are friends with a wonderful older couple who have lived here for 18 years, and love it. Our travels have been wonderful.
I don't regret coming to Italy. I do regret choosing this particular apartment with these particular neighbors. Horror stories abound in Italy of problems with abusive neighbors who refuse to respond to any entreaties to negotiate the problems. In addition, the absolutely beautiful, luxurious, large, airy, light apartment hides many structural problems caused by the owner's refusal to initially spend the money necessary to make the apartments truly separate from each other, in the sense of noise. Therefore, living in this apartment with these two problems has colored my entire experience of living in Verona.
You may be luckier than we were. You may find neighbors who become your friends. You may find an apartment that is insulated and quiet, where every slammed door or or scream from the neighbors doesn't jolt you awake at night or any other hour of the 24. I wish you luck on that. We are not the only people to have to move because of the intolerable intrusion by the neighbors and/or the flaws in construction.
Verona is a funny city. There is great shopping here, which maybe contributes to the obsession with style and appearance on the part of the Veronese. There is a lot of money here, which compounds the above. There are hordes of tourists coursing through the city. But there is a cultural life and the weather is mild except for July and August which are horribly hot and humid due to the city being built along a river in a bowl of hills.
All in all, it was a positive experience. But I wouldn't choose to live in Verona again, I would live somewhere further north, not along a river, somewhere in the mountains. I absolutely love the Alto Adige, the Sud Tirol, though I think you need to be a real outdoors person in order to have a lot to do in that area. It is tranquil, unassuming and serene.
I don't know why you are thinking of moving. The grass always seems to be greener somewhere else, but that rarely rarely turns out to be true. So think with your head, not your heart, before you choose your next posto. Better the devil you know. Good luck.
Hello again and thanks for replying to me. Having read your blog, I can understand your feelings regarding your neighbors and the city. I am moving because my husband was transferred within the Italian military, so not much choice there! But I look forward to the Verona as Rome is wearing me out. Thanks again for the reply and hopefully we will find a quiet apartment with decent neighbors!
Good luck to you on your way back to the states!
Jessica
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