Today after work I quickly went to buy a bottle of wine at the store by my house. I'm gingerly walking towards the register as marching at the rhythm of whatever I'm listening on my iPod. There is a large area by the deli products, a girl is walking ahead of me, and there is a man in business suit walking towards me. The man is checking out the girl in front of me... to the point that as she passes by him, he makes an abrupt full stop and turns around to check her out... mostly he's checking out her ass! I witness the whole very theatrical and humorous deal, I actually confront him by staring back at him straight in the eye, and I have a very satisfied smirk on my face... sort of saying "I caught you!!". He stares back at me with a confused look over his face.
The reason why I'm sharing this story is because as it happened and the way it happened, I realized that this is perfectly fine! Yes, because in Italy you're allowed to stare, to be obvious of noticing somebody or something around you, and to look at strangers right in their eyes. It's not rude, it's part of our culture to acknowledge each other.
In some mother countries, even in ridiculously small places, such as elevators, people try to politely ignore each other. We don't! We greet each other, and immediately start a conversation. We have smart chats(even if sometime we don't agree the subject)with taxi drivers, or strangers on the bus, in shops, at the bank. We just LOVE to STARE and TALK!!!
PS: The image is of Valentina Crepax that has forever been my muse when observing human behavior...
