L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano child, you'd use a towel as a toy. The squeaky noise of clothes lines being pulled, the clicking of cloth pegs being collected: what a com- monly beautiful symphony of — remember the word — normality. But, as it is often the case when I write or eat a slice of cake, I like to leave the best for last. And the best of that laundry hung outside to dry is its scent. Fresh laundry s c e n t i s t h e e p i t o m e o f c l e a n l i n e s s , o f h o m e , o f peace. It means everything is, as an old Radiohead song says, "in the right place," that you're ready for whate- v e r i s c o m i n g y o u r w a y . F r e s h l a u n d r y i s a l s o t h e s c e n t o f m e m o r i e s a n d i t doesn't matter where you come from or how old you are: it remains the scent of our parents and grandpa- rents doing chores, of that first few seconds after get- t i n g i n t o a c l e a n b e d y o u didn't have to change your- self. And then, you know how the old saying goes: laundry that dries outside smells like the sun. By the way, did you know there is, in fact, a scientific reason behind this and that it's an Italian scientist who d i s c o v e r e d i t ? S i l v i a Pugliese, who works for the university of Copenhagen and had the results of her study recently published on t h e E n v i r o n m e n t a l Chemistry journal, found out that laundry that dries in open air produces a large quantity of aldehydes and ketones, organic molecules also produced by plants and flowers. Apparently, exposu- re to ozone and ultraviolet rays contributes to the tran- sformation of common che- micals into these organic w o n d e r s t h a t m a k e everything they come in con- tact with smell nice. You see, the magic of science — what a b e a u t i f u l o x y m o r o n ! — plays with us, too. Sometimes, the message is just as powerful when the laundry isn't out to dry. Just like when you are used to s e e a n o l d l a d y ' s f l o w e r y dresses and silk stockings hanging everyday just up there, in the corner of your village's square and then, one strange morning, one morning that felt a tad col- der than all others, you noti- ce they are no longer there. And then, the church's bell tolls and you know another soul moved on to a better place, even higher up in the sky than those clothes lines. If you grow up in a coun- try where the laundry dries inside, in a tumble dryer or in the privacy of a back gar- den — where all the poetry of its presence is kept, as a well guarded secret, behind closed doors — you may not understand why we Italians, sometimes, miss the colorful and apparent chaos of our laundry hanging out. But if you were born here, it's a different story. You miss it, w h e n y o u l i v e a w a y . Y o u miss it because it tells you a t h o u s a n d t a l e s a b o u t t h e place you live in and the life of those around you; about nature and love, about fami- lies and solitude, about life, death and what lies beyond. Would you have ever ima- gined it was all there, cheri- s h e d w i t h i n t h o s e w h i t e sheets and crimson gowns, g e n t l y a n d u n a s s u m i n g l y h a n g i n g j u s t a b o v e y o u r head? LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE Clothes lines filled with laundry: from the them, people's lives can be imagined (Photo: Laudibi/Dreamstime) "There is art in this myriad of shapes, textures and colors blessing old houses and buildings" Continued from page 22

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