Lunch time, waste of time?

One of the reasons George Clooney loves Lake Como..........“In Italy you eat and drink well. You celebrate lunch time. You are supposed to take your time with lunch and think about what you are eating. You see people go home for lunch with bread and flowers. I love it.” ….... source www.clooneyunlimited.com .


For anyone trying to live/work a normal life here, the whole lunch time thing can be a nightmare. If you don't live in a city (and who would want to when you can live on Lake Como instead ) and are not up and out of the house by the crack of dawn, you just won't get things done in time. Everything closes at mid-day - government offices, the pharmacy, hair dressers, local doctor and yes even a lot of shops outside of the cities. They then re-open at around 3pm, after a leisurely 3 course lunch, including wine and coffee (a set menu for workers can be had for as little as 10 euro). So that makes the working day from 8 or 9 am till 12 and then from 3 till 6 – not exactly long and with that big, useless chunk in the middle. The only things that stays open are the restaurants. Even a government minister, Gianfranco Rotondi, is calling for Italians to shorten/cut out their lunch breaks, saying that it 'brings the country to s standstill. Check out the Italian News web site for more on what he said http://www.italiainformazioni.com/giornale//72090/minister-tells-italians-skip-lunch-workers-taking-long-says-rotondi.htm.


You can imagine how Italians responded to this. The poor man was lambasted in practically every newspaper and lampooned by cartoonists. He was lucky to get away with his life and had to clarify his statement. It was even suggested that it was in contravention of Italian workers' rights! Read more about this issue in the article "Italy finds proposal to skip lunch hard to digest" from Reuters Health (Nov. 24, 2009).

Why can't Italian workers simply take their lunch break in shifts? It beats me. Why does the whole shop/practice/office have to come to a complete stop?


Tip of the day
This lunch-time exodus can however work to your advantage, as many of the larger supermarkets are now staying open at lunch time, which means that the place is absolutely deserted, as the rest of Italy are taking their lunch break. Excellent – tons of parking spaces to choose from, no queues and empty aisles – what a treat! Or if you want to visit one of the many bustling weekend markets e.g. Como or Milan Naviglio, go between 12 and 2 and you will have no problem finding a parking space.


The only other thing to do is just accept it and join them. Find yourself a nice workers lunch for between 10 and 15 euro - remember to ask for the pranzo di lavoro and don't take no for an answer! Bon appetito!