by Alessandro Romano

Learn from Yesterday, Live for Today, Look to Tomorrow, and Rest this Afternoon. Another period as essential to us Italians as Aperitivo is Siesta. In other words, the moments we spend sleeping or resting “between 12:30 and 15:30” after lunch are just our own…

The heat in the middle of the day can get extreme in summer, combined with the typically heavy meals eaten as lunch in the Mediterranean diet. Simply put, we get drowsy after a big meal. We are embracing this biological fact as part of our natural clock. Napping when our body says “to nap”.

Secondly, you must understand our lifestyle today:  First of all, most have a colazione (breakfast) at home or a bar on the way to work. Espresso and sweet cakes. Sugar and caffeine. We have coffee breaks too. The typical worker will go to a “bar” for breakfast and coffee breaks. It’s a social thing we can’t live without and shouldn’t. It’s part of our culture. We eat light breakfasts (and some go without) but recoup with a more extensive lunch than other cultures.

What do you think we should do? During this time, we avoid the steep rays of the sun. We have a long lunch with our friends and friends’ family. Then we rest in the digesting state that our body reacts to after a meal… We return home, close the shutters, and sleep. So, if you see the “chiuso” sign on the doors during siesta, don’t be alarmed; you should rest and wait for this time.

The siesta tradition is so strong, especially in our southern region; A mayor in the Campania region has even banned dog barking during siesta hours! Yes, you read it right 🙂 Mayor Nicola Pastore decided in the town of Controne. The President announced that owners of dogs that bark annoyingly during the siesta between 2:00 and 4:00 pm will be fined. According to the ban, owners of dogs that bark at inappropriate times can be fined 25-500 Euros. “Dog owners must prevent their animals from making loud noises at night or during rest periods between 14:00 and 16:00 in a way that disrupts the public peace,” the decision states.

At noon, usually in hot Southern Italy, some tobaccos, markets, restaurants, gift shops, pharmacies and banks close their doors to eat their lunch and go home to get some rest. Often a business closes at noon or 1 pm and doesn’t reopen again until 3–3:30 pm or 3–3:30 pm. In some towns, it can look like ghost towns during riposte.

Even places you’d think wouldn’t close up tight for a few hours, like car rental offices. They are mostly local and very independent. They are often staffed by at most 2-3 people, all closing up for repose. You’ll even see the local Polizia station closed for riposa in small towns. In small towns throughout Italy, riposa might last until 4 or 5 pm. Restaura might not open again until 6–8 pm. Italia: 66–8 pm; notturno might not turn their personnel during riposte. The shop closes.

But many supermercati (supermarkets) are open all day. Local, open-air markets are usually open early in the morning until an hour before lunch, but that’s only if the town has a market day scheduled. There are signs listing market times in local Piazzi (town squares) for each city with such markets. In a particular town, you can try typing “(town name) mercati comunale alimentary” into Google Maps. This will help find local public food markets and their open days and hours.

In Italy, the average workweek is only 36 hours, with the maximum set at 40 hours. Overtime isn’t permitted to go over 48 hours. Every worker gets four weeks of paid holiday during August’s Ferragosto vacation period and 12 national holidays.

In northern Italy, this period is called riposo or la pausa, and in the south it is called pennichella or pecorino. Riposo means to rest and pause, or to take a break.

The practice of siesta began in ancient Rome. The day in Rome lasted 12 hours and progressed in periods. The sixth hour, half of the 12 hours, was a rest and lunch break for the people of Rome. The Romans built unique rooms for this. Siesta originates from the Latin word hora sexta, which means precisely 6 hours after dawn.

Whatever its origin or name, let rest, which belongs to the Mediterranean culture, form a part of our lives. Let it be called “Siesta” for short.