Thursday, June 08, 2006

ED È SUBITO SERA


And suddenly it’s evening”. The Casa Natale [birthplace] of the Modican poet Salvatore Quasimodo has been turned into a museum of his life and work and it is well worth a visit.

If you haven’t spent time in Italy, it may surprise you to know that there is no real twilight. Instead, darkness falls quite suddenly, at around 8.30 pm at this time of year. Whilst I miss the long, light, British summer evenings, there is a particular beauty in the early darkness of Italy. In about November it does get dark at 5 pm, but never as early as 3 pm, as it does in Britain. And by December it is already starting to get dark a little later. So you lose and you gain! What we definitely don’t have here is the greyness of Britain, which seems to go on forever in winter; it’s dark when you go out in the morning and dark by the time you come home. I’m sure that this, along with the sunshine, is why people seem to be generally happier in Italy [though I’ll admit, on the odd “down day” to even missing the greyness and everyone grumbling about it – but not for long!]

And suddenly it’s evening”: what a metaphor for our lives!

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