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The Unexpected Kindness of Italians

Discovered While Living In Italy for Three Months This Summer


I live in Minnesota, where we have the phrase Minnesota Nice.  It’s true, we Minnesotans smile a lot, hold the door for each other, and wish one other a nice day.  We are basically pretty nice to strangers and to neighbors.  Even Wikipedia has a definition for MN Nice, defining it as a cultural stereotype of being unusually courteous, reserved, and mild mannered. 


This summer my husband and I went to the east and the west coast of Italy to live for three months.  There was MN Nice there (although it was southern Italy) that went so much further than the MN Nice Wikipedia definition. 


Shortly after arriving in Puglia, the eastern region of the boot, I started having back pain.  It was scary being in a foreign country trying to figure out what to do.  I had previously checked our health coverages, and learned how their health system worked in case the need came up. However, somehow, it’s different when you actually do have the need for  urgent care.  My back pain radiated on my left side.  It started as what felt like a pinched nerve, giving me the thought that I just slept awkwardly one night on that side.  The pain steadily increased in pain level, threatening to affect all our plans for our time in Italy.  While having coffee and cornetto in our newly found patisserie, I mentioned to the friendly owner that I was in pain.  Before I could explain too much, he was on his phone to the urgent care, and his coworker was on hers.  The owner then stepped away from his work to drive my husband and I to the urgent care.  While waiting for my appointment, he went back to the patisserie and packed up some pastries for the Dr. and nurse who were assisting me.  He was there when we needed a ride back to our apartment. 


I needed to return to the urgent care, 5 nights in a row to receive an injection in my back.  We had decided not to rent a car during our Italy stay, so we thought we would try to walk.  This was ridiculous due to severe back pain, but an independent driver was charging way too much for this drive.  When the landlord heard of my dilemma, he arranged to have a nurse come to our apartment to administer the shots.  We didn’t have to figure out transportation, and we certainly didn’t have to walk.  This exceptionally kind nurse didn’t speak English, and we spoke a little Italian, but she was there to help.  She wouldn’t take any payment for her trouble.  My pain subsided after the 5 shots, and life in Italy resumed as planned.


After a few months, we left Puglia and began a journey to the Amalfi Coast on the west side of the boot.  For our entire three months in Italy we didn’t rent a car, but used the wonderful infrastructure that exists in the railway system, buses, and taxi’s to get around.  On this train ride across the boot, we needed to transfer trains in a small remote town.  The train conductor knew we would be arriving a too late to catch the transfer, so he called ahead to delay the connecting train a few minutes for us.  He motioned that this was our stop, helped us get off the train, and then we pulled our bags across the track to the train waiting for only us.  Without his help we would have missed our connection and be stuck in a tiny remote town in Italy we never heard of before!


Like in Minnesota, friendly hello’s are often exchanged.  They sound a little different, as the word is Buon Giorno!  Everywhere you go, people would greet with a Buon Giorno.  Sometimes we greeted first, initiating the exchange.  This would cause the Italian to light up with a smile and a greeting, as if it was unexpected from a tourist or American.  As we strolled through the central storico in a city, we heard someone call out my husband’s name with a loud Buon Giorno!  It was a restaurant owner who remembered our name, and greeted my husband warmly. 


As our time in Italy came to an end, restaurant owners and café owners paid for our meals, gave us small gifts giving us a kind sendoff back to the states.  Now, back in Minnesota, enjoying MN Nice, we will always remember the kindness experienced in Italy. 


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