L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 4 GIULIA FRANCESCHINI NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS I talian kids hate September, the month schools open again, but once you grow older, the coming of the first month of the fall is often welcomed with a sense of relief. Because summer may be filled with sun kissed fun for some, but most of us still have to go work every day -- beside that measly couple of weeks in mid-August when everyone else hits the road and half of the vacation is either spent on the highway stuck in traffic, or worrying about being on the highway stuck in traffic. And so, we dwell in the office with the a/c on, then wander into the sweltering heat outside, then back to t h e a / c o f o u r h o m e : a perfect recipe to get neck pains and sore throats, if you ask me. Personally, I am not a fan of the summer, for all these reasons and more. The lack of stability and routine that comes with children not having school and most of your friends expecting you to enjoy the season because it's sunny, while you'd sell your soul to the devil for some fresh, winter air, just makes me m o o d y a n d t e m p e r a m e n t a l . I understand I am part of a minority, though. Yet, I am sure that even t h e h o t s e a s o n ' s l o v e r s would agree with me when I s a y S e p t e m b e r i s s p e c i a l , b e a u t i f u l , reassuring; it's our "Linus' s e c u r i t y b l a n k e t , " a moment of the year filled with zesty, fresh air in the morning and pleasantly cool evenings, with colors t h a t b e g i n t o c h a n g e , m o v i n g f r o m t h e b r i g h t c o l d n e s s o f g r e e n s a n d blues, to the baroque, gold- like warmth of reds and y e l l o w s , p u r p l e s a n d o r a n g e s , a z u r e s a n d browns. Because, yes: September is the month when the f a l l b e g i n s , b u t w e shouldn't forget there are 20 days of summer in it, s t i l l . I n f a c t , t h e m o s t enjoyable part of summer from many points of view, and we Italians are well aware of it. In September, the sun still shines high and the earth is still warm; the sea is calmer and our beaches less crowded, the weather still nice enough to enjoy a holiday and get a tan, or to take a week long break in the mountains. W i t h t h e b e g i n n i n g o f school, even art cities start b e i n g l e s s p a c k e d w i t h tourists: mind, they are packed with residents, but queues for museums are s h o r t e r a n d p r i c e s i n restaurants lower. Of course, enjoying the last September sun isn't for the youngest among us, as children and teens go b a c k t o s c h o o l b y t h e middle of the month. The dreaded primo giorno di scuola hasn't changed, in spite of time passing: it comes with a rush to finish s u m m e r h o m e w o r k f o r k i d s a n d a b e n e v o l e n t sense of relief for parents, in many a way happy to go back to routine. There are t r a d i t i o n a l a c t i v i t i e s i n t r i n s i c a l l y t i e d w i t h primo giorno di scuola we all have memory of, one of the most common being the trip to town to buy new shoes and a new backpack. Because children from first t o f i f t h g r a d e w e a r uniforms -- black or blue k n e e l e n g t h o v e r a l l f o r boys and girls -- sometimes the choice of the grembiule (apron: that's how we call it, even though it's really a knee-length shirt) can also become an arduous task: kids, of course, are all for the newest models, while Continued to page 6 Winemaking in Italy: a September tradition (Photo: Stefano Buttafoco/Shutterstock) W e l c o m e b a c k , S e p t e m b e r : b e t w e e n t r a d i t i o n s a n d a longing for normality

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