no parking (plus a poppy)
This is a sign in the corner of the small piazza near my house.
For those who don’t know, these two, taken together mean “No parking in the entire sqaure.”
There didn’t use to be the additional “per tutta la piazza” language below the main sign, but it was added because some crafty parkers argued that, well, they weren’t parked right below the sign, so they weren’t in violation of anything.
Glad we got that cleared up.
Bonus! Here’s a poppy just because.
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[tags]no parking, poppies, flowers[/tags]
25 Beans of Wisdom to “no parking (plus a poppy)”
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
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So how much is a parking ticket? In many parts of the greater Boston area, a parking ticket can be cheaper than paying to park, as long as your car doesn’t get towed.
Sara, I don’t actually know since I don’t drive–but of course that would assume they would give these cars tickets, and I doubt they would because that would require effort. Incidentally, this is right in front of our comune/city hall.
In any event, it’s *free* to park everywhere in my town, including the large piazza, which is literally a thirty second walk away from where all these cars are. And believe me, none of these people have any good physical reason to have parked there–it’s a very small place and you get to know everyone’s cars pretty quickly 😉
hahaha!!! well that’s just a metter what exactly did they mean by TUTTA la piazza…?
that’s kind of a cute little sign… i’ll have to file away this knowledge in case i am ever in Italy and trying to park someplace. 🙂
that sign cracked me up.
the poppy is molto bella.
Glad to know people are selfish creeps when it comes to parking in other places, too–not just around here!
(Wait. “Glad to know” isn’t really the right phrase, I guess. Oh well.) 😉
The entire square seems like a rather large area. Guess you are supposed to walk. What do they want you to be? Healthy….lol. Geesh.
Thank you, Sognatrice. Those little details make the whole thing even funnier.
Maybe someday there will be an additional sign that says the Italian equivalent of “Pretty please with sugar on top.”
The drivers will just get a bit more creative. How can such a beautiful flower be the root of so much that is wrong with the world Today?
Alexandra, exactly–one can obviously interpret “tutta” in many ways. Who knew?
Aimee, I think a lot of Italian road signs are cuter than American ones…may have to post on that too someday, thanks 🙂
NYC, glad you enjoyed both photos 😉
Stefanie, you had me wondering what the “right” phrase would be. I’m stumped.
John, yes, that square (which we actually call a “piazetta,” or “little square) is in the entire photo. That means there’s room enough for one very well-driven car to squeeze past the parked ones and continue down the corso. They’re SOL if they wanted to turn around though.
Sara, too funny! I wouldn’t doubt it, but I’ll be sure to catch a photo if it happens 😉 Another detail is that I’m pretty sure there was a sign there for a little while that said something about parking only for deliveries–like there are *so* many around here (really just from my mom, I think).
Guess people took advantage of that too.
Ah… that poppy is so beautiful! I don’t think we have those here but I love to see pictures of them. Thank you for that today. 🙂
Gil, you’re very right. And funny you mention about the poppy as I was just watching a report on the opium growers in Afghanistan and the money being deposited directly into the Taliban. This, coupled with the photo, sparked a discussion between P and me in which I relayed how when drug testing first began in the States, people were really surprised when they tested positive because they had eaten poppy seed bagels….
Anyway, it sure is a pretty shade of red methinks.
Karen Beth, glad you enjoyed it. Here they’ve been in season since March, so they should be leaving us soon 🙁
Lots of great stuff here S. I relate on lots of levels, being a foreigner here in France. I’ve been speaking French for 10 years now, but still can’t shake off that feeling of having just arrived! 🙂
Great photos. Those who parked there “not under the sign” would make good lawyers. Such sly thinking.
LOVE IT,…..TOO FUNNY!
Thanks for the chuckle!
Some people are so crafty! Always walking the line. And I love the picture of the poppy. I took a picture of a tulip in full bloom from the top the other day and it looked like a poppy!
Sara, I was so happy to see the poppies. My son and I spent a week in Tuscany last spring and we saw fields and fields of them. Thanks for bringing that memory back.
I don’t think I’ve seen one up close. Very pretty that poppy.
Thanks for my morning giggle!
At first I was thinking, wow, we could use some signs like that in the piazze here, but then I realized that it would be pointless because they’d be ignored. The fines for parking in my town are about 40 Euro! Much of the parking here is within blue lines, so you have to pay. And you’re more likely to get a ticket if you park there (without paying) then if you park in the middle of a piazza, block driveways, or double-park, because the people who control the paid parking are a lot more diligent than the vigili!
wow- the south and north are so very different. I don’t park my car anywhere for five minutes for fear of a ticket. And I couldn’t help notice that gob of electric wires hanging on the wall! I saw those all over southern Italy. That would be cause for another big fat fine where I live!
I relayed how when drug testing first began in the States, people were really surprised when they tested positive because they had eaten poppy seed bagels….
I actually knew someone that couldn’t get the clearance needed to get her teaching certificate because of poppy seed bagels.
I agree with you on the beautiful shade of red.
Cute! I know how that goes. We can never get out of our drive because the neighbors park in front. After thirty years of living here, you think they’d know better.
Shameless, some things never get old, do they–and on the other hand, I’ve become accustomed to a lot of things that would stand out to “true” foreigners. It’s always fun when I notice something my old self would’ve picked out too.
Ally Bean, I think most Italians would make great lawyers based on their creativity for getting around laws 😉 Oops, did I generalize?
Louise, Rebecca, glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Erin, ooh, tulips! Another of my favorites!
Candace, poppy fields are so wonderful, aren’t they? We don’t have a lot of uninterrupted ones here, but poppies in small groups abound.
Bella, glad you liked the poppy–I especially liked the bug action 😉
KC, is it sad that nothing you’ve written surprises me?
Jennifer, ah the electrical wires…again, keep in mind that this is right outside the comune. I should take photos of these all over the village, quite funny in the middle of buildings that are hundreds of years old.
Gil, see, I knew those rumors were true! Actually I think I did some sort of paper/debate/speech (can’t remember) on mandatory drug testing at some point, and that’s when I learned about poppy seeds. Such an innocent flower to me before that 😉
Jennifer, ugh. Don’t you have “Lasciare libero” (or the like) hand-painted across your drive like they do here? I’ll have to do photos of those someday too….