This is not a particularly great photo (I just happened to take it accidentally while playing with my camera), but I wanted to share it because it somehow captures a bit of the Italian spirit.
These two men are fathers at the end-of-school celebration at my younger son's elementary school. The fifth-graders have completed their first school cycle in the Italian system after having spent 5 years with the same classmates and the same teachers. Next year they will go to junior high and have to start all over, with a new school, new classmates and new professors.
But, back to the "Italian-ness" of the guys in the photo...they are both quite attractive, casually well-dressed and making grand gestures. Why the gestures? Because the children were marching toward them, waving little colored handkerchiefs.
Italians are famous for their gesturing, most cannot talk without moving their hands because Italian gestures have specific meanings and add content to a discussion. They are not just flailing their hands about willy-nilly, no they are saying something with each gesture. That's why they even gesture when talking on the telephone!
Posts
