Judy Leaver, Professional Writer | Best Words, Best Order

Archive for October, 2011

Literary Mileage
Airing Italian Laundry

Sunday, October 16th, 2011

The building on the right is the St. Francis Church in Volterra.

I love the way Italians dry their laundry. Since most people live in small apartments, they use clotheslines strung on a pulley system, either out the windows or off their balconies. Sometimes even across their streets or alleys. Sheets, shirts, socks, underwear, and towels provide color and softness to the dark Medieval or Roman era walls of their villages. For a tourist, it is an oddly intimate look at how Italians live.
I can’t imagine District of Columbia officials accepting laundry hanging out the apartment windows across the street from the National Cathedral. There’s probably an ordinance against it. Somebody would complain. We’re too puritanical to let our underwear fly outside.
Instead, we are spoiled by our clothes dryers, so laundry loses the benefit of fresh air and sunshine. We use “Mountain Fresh” Bounce sheets instead. I won’t even go into the energy expended using our big rotating tubs of hot air.
For me, laundry is as much a part of the Italian landscape as the spectacular olive groves and vineyards in which the clothes flutter and wave.
Another aspect of Bella Italia!