Guest Post: Author of Passeggiata, GG Husak

29 CommentsFriday • February 20, 2009 • by michelle

Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to G.G. Husak, author of Passeggiata: Strolling through Italy. G.G. and her husband Al make a yearly pilgrimage to Italy in March, enjoying the Bel Paese from the inside, and this book is the result of their trips.

G.G. writes that Italy has become comfortable and familiar for them “even though we know ours is a fringe position and that, as visitors, we have the luxury of a romantic and imaginative perspective. Still, we are pleased that we can stand at a counter in a café in a small town and drink cappuccino with the local folks, pretending that, in our jeans and black jackets, we blend in. We feel as if we belong, at least for the moment.”

The book is a collection of tales from their stroll, or passeggiata, through various Italian cities and towns, and the following is

G.G.’s take on Italian coffee:

Returning to Italy means a return to the best espresso and cappuccino in the world. One of our simple pleasures is watching the owner of a small café prepare the espresso or cappuccino as we lean over the bar. We smell the coffee beans, feel the steam, and hear the froth of milk.

Instead of a complex language describing the size, additions, and ratios of our drink ingredients, in Italy, we simply ask for a caffé or cappuccino, not wet or dry, not small or large.

We know that if we sit at a table in a cafe and have our coffee served to us, it may cost several dollars, but if we stand at the counter, drinking the same coffee without table service, it will be 50 cents.

We know that ordering “coffee” or “caffè” will bring us a cup of espresso, rather than American style coffee. If we want a lighter drink, coffee with milk, we order a cappuccino or latte.

We know that Italians drink espresso, rather than cappuccino or latte, later in the day, adding milk only in the mornings. Waitpeople have gotten used to visitors like us enjoying both in the afternoons. In a café we know to leave a small coin beside the cup as a tip, even if we are served standing.

We are accustomed to seeing loose sugar in a bowl on the bar with a couple of communal spoons, no little bags of sanitized sugar and no sugar substitutes. There is also no mess, no torn wrappers, no empty powdered cream containers, no paper to-go cups and no wooden or plastic stir sticks. You get a cup, a saucer and a spoon.

Occasionally an office or shop worker from down the block will come in and get a small tray of coffees, presumably for coworkers, and leave with a round tray and several ceramic espresso cups. Later they will bring back the empties.

Recently in Rome, I was shocked to see my first ever take-out coffee shop, with a sign advertising cups “to-go.” I guessed that they were targeting the tourists. But thinking of the waste of paper and plastic that we have unfortunately come to see as normal in many coffee shops at home, I can’t imagine that Italy would ever go down that road.

What do you think?

Do Starbucks and the like have a chance in Italy?