A Small Italian Town’s Motives

In late 2022, I visited Europe for a week. My primary stay was in Geneva, Switzerland but decided to take a day trip by train into Italy. The town is called Domodossola. Never heard of it? Of course not. It’s tiny, yet beautiful. It’s quiet and elegant. The people there speak no English at all, yet were all happy. When we arrived, the town was completely shutdown. Everything. There wasn’t a single store that was open. Lights were off, people were gone, and doors were locked. I then realized that this was the case because it was lunch time for the working Italians. I realized that most of these Italians take about a 2 or 3 hour lunch break. When we would pass them in restaurants, they would all be happy, laughing, eating amazing food, and simply enjoying themselves. Nothing else in the world mattered to them at that time. The only important thing to them was the good food and their friends that joined them for lunch. There wasn’t a sense or urgency or stress. I also noticed this in other European cities but it really was evident in Domodossola. As Americans, it seems that many times our focus is solely on our jobs. Making sure our work gets done to make “the man” happy. We stress ourselves out by keeping our nose to the grindstone every hour of the day. Even when we take a lunch break, we still grab our phones to respond to emails and answer texts. We think about work the whole time we are eating, and even eat in the quickest way possible so we can get back to work. We almost live in fear and anxiety of pulling our hair out in order to get our work done. It seems, however, that the Italians have a much different perspective. Their primary focus in life is simply living a good life. Having close friends, eating good foods, and just living life fully. They do work of course, but the focus on work is more of working enough to live, not working so much that it consumes their whole lives. While I wish America would transition to this mindset, it’s going to be difficult unless every big business gets onboard. Otherwise, the hustlers will succeed and the companies that slow the pace will be eaten by the big boys. If you ever get the chance to visit Domodossola, do it. You will not regret it. If for no other reason than to experience a slower-paced lifestyle around people who are more at peace with life, and what appears to be, much less stress.