Ferragosta

is when Milan-ites leave town!

This year Ferragosta, the mid-August holiday, falls on Friday. This was my second Ferragosta. The first was when I had just flown in from SF last year, so I didn't really notice the huge exodus of people from the city. This year I could definitely see the difference.

On Thursday, we were in the city at around 5pm. I would say 80-90% of the stores were closed with 'chiuso per ferie' (closed for vacation) signs. There were hardly any cars on the streets and plenty of open parking spots everywhere. It was eeriely quiet. Everyone had left the city to either go to the seaside or the mountains. I've never seen this in any of the cities I've lived in. What a strange phenomenon.

We were on our way to visit a coworker and his wife at the hospital. They just had triplets: Veronica, Davide and Gabrielle. That's 3 newborns at the same time. I can't even imagine what that must be like. Everything went well and although they have stay in the hospital for a couple weeks, all three are healthy.