Sounds of Italy

For being by myself so often at my house, it’s really loud. No, I am not blasting the music as I unpack and I still don’t have a TV, but yet it’s loud. True Signore likes to remind me that he’s around by meowing, crinkling shredding papers, or running around but it’s more than that. All the sounds coming through my open windows and doors create a wonderful soundtrack that I just have to call Sounds of Italy.

I know you’ve heard the traffic and church bells in the videos & read my comments on them, but that's they are only the percussion section to this piece of music. With the start of futbol season I’ve been hearing cheers and jeers in the evenings in between the TV announcer taking about a million words a minute. With the celebrations (because they sure have a ton) you get the noises produced from a crowd with every now and then a kid shouting simple enough Italian that I can actually translate. The past two weekends I’ve turned off my music to listen to the music coming from the adjacent piazza. I think the first weekend was the back to school kick off with various classes performing and then this past one had live entertainment. He was alright but the woman could really sing.

Sitting on my porch I hear phones ringing until pronto is spoken indicating that the call was picked up. I hear brooms sweeping (the never ending) dust off patios. Noises from the pizza place below me (and yummy smells) travel upwards to my lookout. From time to time I also hear an alarm system going off which reminds me that I need to figure out how to prevent mine from going off. In the evenings the sound of fireworks are a common one.

Loud? Yes. Annoying? Not at all! In fact when it is quiet it’s strange because unless it’s 2-4pm silence is just not natural for Italy. Last night with the wind howling, thunder clamping, rain pouring down the streets were empty. (Surprise.) There weren’t too many people in the streets but I think that was more due to the local holiday celebrating the patron saint of Napoli since stores were locked up tight. Even without people out in the streets I could still hear dishes clinking, cheering for to local team, and those church bells from the 3 towers spread out over town. When the wind really got going, I also heard the metal shutters on doors and window rattling. (FYI Signore was not a fan of that noise.)

It’s one of the many things that you just have to experience for yourself. I can’t wait to finish unpacking so I can find the time to sit on my patio (or the roof now that I’ve been up there as well) and just take it all in. I highly recommend sitting up there when it’s dark to check out the stars. You still have a fair amount of city lights but are above most of the annoying ones. Just an FYI to add to your “things to do while visiting Katie” list.