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Bartoci Fabrizio, 38, has been running Caffé Commercio in the main piazza of Cagli with his mother, Maria Marina Tuzza, for 13 years now. It is one of the many family-owned businesses in Cagli and similar, small Italian towns.

Fabrizio says that most businesses in Cagli are owned and operated by families, which include a parent or parents and a child or children.

He said he didn’t always work at Commercio when he was younger. He left Cagli and the family business several times and went to technical school outside Cagli, worked in insurance, traveled to Brazil for an extended time, and managed a different restaurant in Cagli.

But somehow, regardless of his other experiences, he always ended up back in Cagli running Caffé Commercio with his mother and brother because working with his mother has helped them to develop a closer relationship.

 

 

 
 

 

Fabrizio jokes that he will “certainly go away from here and never come back. Because this place is nice just for two months in the summer.” He said he plans on retiring on a “small island somewhere with a beer in my hand.”

Located in the main piazza of Cagli, Caffé Commercio is one of the main social centers of the town. It is one of the first places open in Cagli each morning and the last to close each night. The cafe serves endless quantities of coffee, alcohol, and pastries as the people of Cagli wander in and out.

Fabrizio is always smiling as he zooms in and out of the café on his motorcycle. Stale smoke lingers in the air as people peacefully sit enjoying each other’s company.

Fabrizio dresses casually in jeans and a T-shirt with sunglasses on top of his graying hair. He picks up and lights up a cigarette as he answers questions through the translator. He calls his mother over and asks for a beer.

Fabrizio said that he always returned to Cagli because he feels a strong connection and responsibility to his family.

“When we get older, we need to help,” he states.

Fabrizio says that growing up he “had everything I wanted and was treated quite well.”

He described working with his family as sometimes annoying because of how protective Italian parents are. Sometimes he says that he has to “close his eyes and breathe.” However, this has not affected his plans to open another cafe with his brother and his wife.

 

 
 
 

But the strong ties of family may be weakening. Lucia Braccini, the only woman on the town council in Cagli, says that ideas about children’s freedom today are “like day and night” from years ago when she was growing up.

In the past, Italian society would have frowned upon children exploring their own career options and not following in the footsteps of their families.

For example, Braccini said, Fabrizio would be free to leave work at Caffé Commercio if he so desired, but this concept is new to Italian culture.

 

“When I was younger, my father wouldn’t let me go out at night,” Braccini said. In Bartoci’s generation, it was common for children to explore options, but eventually they came back to their family responsibilities as Fabrizio did.

Now Braccini has noticed that younger Italians are less likely to return to fulfill traditional responsibilities.

As much as Fabrizio complains about working in a family-run business in his hometown, Cagli, he is still here. There are literally hundreds of families that own and operate their own businesses scattered throughout Cagli.

Family holds a strong value in Italian culture that many feel they are tied to. The majority of people in Cagli seem likely to continue to work and live in this small town as their families have for generations.

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