Italian Neighbors

Tim Park's home in VeronaIn Italian Neighbors, British author Tim Parks writes about his experience living in Verona, Italy with his Italian wife Rita as a foreigner trying to assimilate into his new community. On Via Colombare, Parks gives humorous and heartrending accounts about his neighbors, the shopkeepers, and other residents of his little street. With the intentions of immersing himself into the Italian lifestyle, Parks learns much about the little things that tourists would not be privy to; a world behind the preconceived romantic notions that many people might relate to Italy.

As I was reading Italian Neighbors, I realized how fortunate I am to have the opportunity to have a similar experience as Parks by living in a homestay. Though, even my situation is a bit removed from Parks as he truly took up resident for a good ten years whereas I have barely dipped a foot into the whole Italian lifestyle.

As Parks was describing his first few months in Italy, I had my own flashbacks to whenever I would find myself in an entirely new environment. One specific memory I have is when I moved to Wuerzburg, Germany and my parents decided to rent a flat from a German couple. Just like Parks and his wife were introduced to their new home by an Italian landlord, our German landlords showed us around the house and offered a lot of advice.

I could really sense and empathize with the feelings of unfamiliarity and the uncertainty that Parks must have felt in those first few days. Parks mentions a woman Orietta Visentini who “says that in twenty odd years she has never really been accepted in Montecchio. People’s friends here are their childhood friends, their families… They don’t even know how to make friends, because they have never had to do so, and anyway, they can’t imagine anybody being without their own circle.” It was nice to read how Parks eventually overcame those obstacles and was able to become friendly with some of his neighbors. But it really is true how difficult it can be to come into a community all of a sudden and wonder if people will truly accept you or if you will always be considered an outsider.

I’ve got to admit, being here in Florence and knowing that I will only be here for 4 months, I already resigned to the fact that I probably would not be able to really establish myself here or feel any sense of belonging. Still, having lived with an Italian family, I do feel as though I’ve lived here and not as though I’m just passing by. I hope to really take this experience as one I can look upon fondly- a place where I grew as a person and learned more about the world.