April 21, 2010
All the street is a stage in Sicily. Those who show up for a performance had better be decked out for the part.
Living here feels like walking through a gigantic theatrical production. Flamboyance and fantasia rule.
Couples herald their coupledom with coordinated outfits. My own husband will not agree to this. (He finds it a challenge to coordinate his socks.)
Some dress-alike couples are subtle.
Others not so much.
It wouldn’t be fair to i siciliani to say their obsession with clothing springs from narcissism. Elegance shows civic altruism: you are prettifying the landscape for the delight of your fellow citizens. As the old Sicilian saying goes, Mancia a gustu tò, càusa e vesti a gustu d’àutru; Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others.
Click here to read Shoes Like Gondolas, the true tale of my failed attempt to become an Italian fashion goddess. I wrote it after my first long visit to Ragusa Ibla (Sicily) in 2002.
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