published: 08/12/2024
La passeggiata is part of the Italian art of living. With the fine weather, when the sun disappears behind the roofs, the time for the aperitivo approaches, and minute by minute, the historic artery of the city center, pedestrian and charming as it should be, is transformed: a crowd gathers, as if the whole city had come together to stroll and chat. With friends. Or with family, with strollers. All generations gathered in a calm and cheerful flow, which goes up then down the street, an uninterrupted flow. Then night falls, the terraces are full, the restaurants too, and the flow continues its great traveling conversation, until late in the evening.
We watch it from a café terrace. Then we join in, we become actors in the scene. Feeling of communion and serenity.
It's magical, because in the space of the evening, we understand what it means for a society to be genuinely cohesive.
The passeggiata is unknown to us in France, even though we're also a Latin and neighboring country.
So, where can we experience it ?
Almost everywhere in Italy! But there are places where it is particularly striking and memorable.
It will often not be big cities, where the crowd is necessarily "diluted"; but it will be small or medium-sized towns, where this surreal impression operates: "but, there are more people in the street there, than possible inhabitants in this town!"
Here are some of these places, in Italy... and even elsewhere!
Note that most of the photos below don't do justice to the atmosphere, as my attention to photography follows the same decrease as the late afternoon sun.
in Italy, at Castelbuono (in Sicilia)
We ended up in Castelbuono somewhat by chance, certainly guided by our lucky star. Initially, in the morning, it was for a short stop to make sandwiches (at the macelleria Gentile, which serves meat raised a few kilometers away, a pure sandwich delight), as we were heading for the mountains for a hike. Then at the end of the day, on the way back from the hike: the morning stop was enough to convince us that here in the evening, it was surely going to be really nice. We couldn't have been more right...
Castelbuono is a small town, fairly isolated in the Sicilian mountains, about 40 minutes from the sea, 50 minutes from the coastal town of Cefalù. The town center is absolutely charming, its medieval castle is imposing, its central square invites you to sit back and let time pass, smile on your face. But now is late Saturday, and from the café terrace, we can see that, as the minutes go by, an increasingly dense crowd is converging, and a memorable passeggiata is forming. Incredible... what luck! 😍
Castelbuono has this particularity of having an extraordinary number of cafés and restaurants for the inhabitant. This characteristic is common to all of Italy, compared to France; but here, it's even more remarkable. So, when the moment of the passeggiata arrives, eventually we should not be so surprised to see this surreal flow of young people, families, as if literally all the inhabitants of the small town and the surrounding areas are gathering on the main artery of the old town.
The Fiasconaro pastry shop, which at first glance also seemed incredibly oversized for the city, and its ice cream shop across the street, then become more crowded than ever. As are all the cafés and restaurants. All this in the peaceful calm of the car-free town centre, against a backdrop of the sunset glowing over the mountains.
All evening long, what a feeling of fullness.
in Italy, at Sulmona (l'Aquila province)
Ready for an immersive passeggiata evening? The charming Abruzzo town of Sulmona may be just the place!
Here, given the layout of the town, whose center was built on a ridge, there is literally only one long, beautiful artery that constitutes the “historic heart” of the town, and so, quite naturally, it's a concentrated passeggiata that takes place there.
Sulmona exhibits this calm, positive mentality of the region, where the passeggiata is an institution.
You don't come to Sulmona solely for the passeggiata. First and foremost, at Sulmona you're in the heart of Abruzzo. The two cities of L'Aquila and Sulmona, two nerve centers, two “base camps” from which to radiate to discover these mountains of prodigious beauty (Gran Sasso and Monte Velino massifs for the former, Maiella massif for the latter), and their adorable towns and villages; but that's another story.
Sulmona was my “base camp”, it's here that I “discovered” the passeggiata (whose name and concept I didn't know back then) for the first time, an unforgettable moment.
in North Macedonia, at Bitola / Битола
A fantastic passeggiata (in spirit) in Bitola, in North Macedonia not far from the border with Bulgaria. Can you believe it?
And yet. The exact same feeling as in Sulmona or Castelbuono. This impression that the whole city, young and old and families, all generations are out for the walk along the pedestrian artery. Here, on the scale of a big city! And the artery in question, as we walked it "right in the middle of the passeggiata", is several kilometers long! From the town center until the large park and its countless shops, it's no problem, here the passeggiata is a good opportunity to exercise your calves 🙂. And here too, with a cross-generational serenity that's beyond words. This was a divine surprise, and another moment of plenitude 🙂.
A few other memorable strolls
OK, let's make a departure from the purity of the concept, by abandoning a characteristic unique to the above-mentioned cases: the principle of the single artery, which is walked back and forth, with an instantaneous U-turn as soon as you've reached... the U-turn point.
Yet, in many other Italian cities, crowds of all ages strolling peacefully through the city center in the evening is extremely charming and soothing. Here are a few examples:
in Italy, at Perugia (Umbria)
Let's settle on a somewhat bigger city. An hour and a half away from here is Firenze, packed with tourists, not easy to get a Dolce Vita vibe. But here in Perugia, the historic center, which alternates Renaissance palaces and medieval quarters, is just as striking, and sheer joy, it's virtually tourist-free, we're just “among Italians” 🙂. So, when late afternoon comes, and we've already been wandering, open-mouthed, the narrow streets for hours, we slip happily into the growing crowds along Corso Pietro Vanucci (picture above, during the festive season).
in Italy, at Lecce (Puglia)
Another big city: Lecce, in Puglia. In a very different style, this time Gothic, the historic center is extraordinary.
Of course entirely pedestrian, it's amazing how vast it is and in every way magnificent. But when night falls, one could believe it has become cramped, as the crowd is so dense walking the streets in all directions, at times progressing gets slow due to congestion.