THE GENOVESE - RESERVED? IT'S ALL RELATIVE

The Genovese think that, by nature, they are reserved, inward looking and distant towards their fellow human beings compared to the rest of the Italians.

 "You have to live at least 3 years along the same street before people start saying hello. Then one day it will happen, totally unexpectedly," I was warned early on.
   There is some truth to this rather uncharitable view of the good citizens of Genoa. They are not rushing to be involved in your life or try to hug you to death. Family always comes first and don't think that you as a foreigner will be cosily included in that group anytime fast. That only happens in food programmes with celebrity chefs. People can also behave quite formally in some social situations and expect you to do the same.

    But the Genovese are not necessarily unfriendly. On the contrary.

   Take our local bus stop, for example. More than once, someone has started to talk to me spontaneously about the weather or the irritation of a bus being late.  If you appear to agree, the conversation could soon be wide open to other issues, such as personal memories of a particular bad day when there was a bus strike and the person in question was stuck in town for hours. Once on the bus, an Italian lady sat next to me and talked to me nonstop in Italian. The conversation opener? I had a Kindle and was reading it, when she asked if it is difficult to use. There we quite quickly developed into stories about her granddaughter, who - incidentally - also happened to have a Kindle. That was soon forgotten when she warmed up to the real theme: how difficult it is to get young people to read these days and how studying at the university might not be an option for the granddaughter and did I think that she should not go to the university but to do something practical instead, such as hairdressing? When I said that I cannot speak Italian very well, she said comfortingly that it did not matter at all and she carried on.

    Going to the post office and waiting for your turn with couple of other people, is another classic opportunity. Everyone has a number, therefore you are all in the same queue and what is there to do? Well, a good chat helps to pass the time. This is more of a slippery slope and the camaraderie of queueing takes it for granted that you will participate in that conversation as people want to hear your views about number of issues. At least to agree or disagree. As a minimum.

   The Genovese probably are more reserved compared to other Italians. But my bet is that if there would be an international competition on the matter, the Genovese would not be on top of the table.