ItalianPod101.com Blog

It is 1:30pm in the afternoon in Lecce and the temperature has reached the ungodly extreme of 38 degrees Celsius (roughly 100 Fahrenheit), it is accompanied by the kind of humidity usually associated with the deep south of Louisiana. All of Lecce is at home, lying in their beds with a fan propped close to their faces as they sleep away the afternoon’s most intense hours of sunshine. As for myself, this is the Lecce that I find most enjoyable, a sleeping city, where I could roam the streets alone, seeing only a stray tourist in search of an open farmacia, not knowing that for 3 to 4 hours in the afternoon, all of the local shopkeepers leave their businesses, lock the doors, and go home for a leisurely lunch and a little nap, before heading back to work for the night.

There was one spot that I found was always open, and no matter what time of day it was, I could always count on this small bar tucked behind Piazza Sant’Oronzo to serve delicious iced espresso, or caffé in ghiaccio (a southern specialty), along with a cup of fresh fragola (strawberry) gelato, my summer favorite. When I found myself wandering the streets during these quiet afternoon hours, I would always sit here and read whichever book I had brought with me, for I always had a book in my bag. I ordered a caffé and sat for an hour reading, watching the locals jabber on in dialect, not understanding a word.

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