Fiesty Milanese

So our apartment is on the 5th floor (6th floor in American-style buildings) and overlooks a huge Piazza in Milan. Luckily, our window glass is thick so if we want to shut out the world, we can do it pretty successfully. However, it feels very "Italian" to us to hear the hustle and bustle of the world go on outside of our windows, so we usually leave the balcony doors open and let that fresh air in. This means that we can often hear some exciting thing - like a Rihanna concert down the street or the smashing of fender to bumper and subsequent sirens. Every now and then though, it gets really quiet. Then, after a minute or so...you hear voices. It's PROTEST SEASON in Italy. Name the interest group and I guarantee they're riled up about something.


These pictures are a mix from different protests that have come by our flat. They've been 100% peaceful and generally not even too loud. The picture above shows one of the noisier protests we've seen...due to the band hanging out and performing on the back of the truck.


This crowd (above) stretched out for a couple of blocks! I always get a kick out of seeing the insane drivers in the piazza come to a screeching halt...and then forced to wait as several hundred people leisurely stroll by.


These protests are legal and escorted by the cops (who stop traffic and monitor public safety). You can tell how lively the issue is by how many people are crowded to the front of the line. The more that people want to be in the front, the more fiesty the subject is. However, when the crowd gets thin and goes for blocks, you know you've got hangers-on.

So what do they protest? Heck if I know. Very few people carry signs or banners and the voices from the bullhorns end up being pretty unintelligable. However, they're an amusing distraction from a lazy Saturday.