The song remains the
same in Cagli
The most common question I might recieve upon my return from Cagli? Well, besides the obvious trite questions such as "How was it?" (because of course I will say "Horrible!!" and then smile warmly), "How was the food?" and so on. It might be "What surprised you most about Cagli?" Unfortunately, nothing has really shocked me about Cagli. Maybe it's because I read up on the area and the country beforehand, or maybe it's because I'm jaded, or (and this will bother people) generalizations are more true than we all believe. Yes, believe it or not, Italians, even those in Cagli, eat pasta, drink wine and cappuchino, take afternoons off, talk with their hands, go way overboard about soccer, populate men who dress far too tightly, and have a lot of old Roman stuff.
Those in uniform are granted a place
front and center no matter where the locale.

"What surprised you most
about Cagli?"

 

This I have found to fulfill my every expectation. This doesn't negate those (largely) wonderful qualities, nor say that there isn't plenty to explore and find out in Cagli. There is. Perhaps even something surprising.

But not in what people have, or what their culture is, or even the culture itself. For people often do not have much control over their culture. Geographical and climate factors, as well as whether a culture survives independently of another, alter what a people actually becomes. Therefore, cultural identities, while interesting for comparisions on many levels, are only a superficial glance at what a people of a community is truly like.


How can I observe the Cagliese and discover anything if I already know what to expect from them cultually, particularly in their habits and attitudes that are peculiar to the American palette? By studying individuals. Studying individuals will not necessarily grant me insights as to the entire community, but it can show me the role that an individual plays within a community.

 

Therefore, in the next four weeks, hopefully I can find out some of the roles, filled in every society, but in how they appear in Cagli. If this works, it can perhaps show how much Cagli has in common with anywhere else, which may be the most surprising thing of all
 
. In the piazza, the window of Caffe D'Italia reflects a neighboring eatery, of which there are several.