Communism and Smoked Mozzarella (Day 36)

After staying up most of the night today was fuelled by lots of nice coffee. I’m glad it’s not so hot anymore or I could have easily fallen asleep. I actually think I’m becoming acclimatized. There were people walking around in t-shirts today, but I had a scarf and woolly cardigan on and still felt chilly. The walk to and from work is enjoyable now, and I can carry a bag without sweating profusely, which is a much better look.

Every day I walk past this Communist bar. There are loads of pictures of Che Guevara on the walls and old men sitting around from nine in the morning drinking and presumably putting the world to rights. If I could speak Italian I’d love to go in but my language skills aren’t up to political debating standard yet. I could just about order my drink and then I’d be stuck.

The Italian Communist Party was founded in 1921 and during the 60’s approximately 5% of Italy’s population were communists, which was the largest percentage in a capitalist country. In 1991 it became the Democratic Party of the Left who are still active in Italian politics today.

We got home and Sam cooked up some lovely polenta and wild mushrooms and then we had a night in. Not something I’ve done a lot of here so it was good to relax.

We’ve tried to get the TV working but it’s a complicated device, so I’ve settled for reading about what I could be watching instead. It’s amazing how many British and American programmes are on Italian TV. If there was this many Italian programmes on British TV no one would have a clue what they were watching. It reminded me again how little of the language I know, and how rubbish that is of me. I painted red over all the American or British programmes to give a bit of a representation for blogging purposes. ‘Paris Hilton’s New Best Friend’ seems to be a favourite, as is ‘Jersey Shore’.

9pm: Film. That looks like it might be good!

‘And Finally’ - as today’s title might suggest, I’ve discovered smoked mozzarella and the world is now a better place. It doesn’t look very appetising, but that’s part of it’s deceptive charm.