Piacentini Fridays

July 5, 2025

Hey there, it’s been a while!! I’ve been cram-writing my thesis and taking exams the past few weeks, SO I’ve been a little too busy and braindead for blog-writing. My thesis is finally wrapping up, and I’ve found myself with a fully free Saturday with nothing on my agenda but rotting in bed. It’s 3:30pm right now and I’ve only gotten up twice so far (to make a good breakfast and to eat some gelato straight from the tub), so I’ve been wildly successful! I’ve spent the whole day looking through my camera roll—a task I’ve put off since I moved here—and deleting (7,000) photos. I can think of few better ways to spend a day than lying in bed with a cup of coffee in hand, listening to an audiobook, and scrolling through all the memories from the past couple of years.

The past few weeks have all looked relatively the same: Exam on Monday. Spend the rest of the week writing as many words as possible during the day and studying as many power points as possible at night. Do a little stress baking. Go on the occasional early morning run. Maybe sprinkle a river day into the mix. Celebrate goodbyes and birthdays. Take an extra moment to notice all the courtyard gardens I’ve passed a hundred times. Drink a perfectly pulled shot of espresso. Take a quick evening stroll and listen to the cicadas singing or whatever it is they do that makes so much noise. Meal prep (the only thing I wrote in my journal last week, and I quote, was “thank you God for potato salad!!”). Get up from the chair I’ve been glued to all day to take a quick dance break whenever a worthy song comes on shuffle. Crack open a cold beer at the end of yet another hot day. Repeat it all again the next week. The only two things that really stand out from the past couple weeks are:

1.       My bike got stolen (Finally! Bike thievery is probably one of Piacenza's top 5 industries, so I actually can’t believe it’s taken this long).

2.      Piacentini Fridays have returned.

Piacenza is an oven this time of year, and I do my best to stay no more than an arm’s length away from a fan or AC unit at all times, but Piacentini Fridays are one thing that can pull me (and the whole rest of the community) out and into the heat. For 5 Fridays out of the summer, the whole town shuts down and throws a party. A market pops up on the Pubblico Passeggio. Some stores close early, others stay open late (till 1am). Grocery stores don’t sell alcohol after 6pm, insisting that if you are drinking, you are drinking with the rest of the town. The speakeasy-type-bar you wouldn’t have known exists fills the piazza across the street with tables, and the alleged mayor is playing beer-pong, and a DJ is playing the most random mix of nostalgic hits, or the live band is solely singing Fleetwood Mac covers as a blue-haired lady dances right in front of them from when they start at 8 till they finish just after midnight with a shockingly spot on rendition of “The Chain”. There are concerts in the city center, and exotic dancing, and fake-nacho-libre-style fighting, and so much food, and blow-up bouncy houses, and chess tables, and churches are open for praying and others are closed and used as a projector backdrop, and 2-year-olds and 82-year-olds alike are out until 2am when things finally quiet down enough to slowly start making your way home (but not before grabbing one last kebab or slice of pizza for the road).  I really can’t explain how fun it is.

My favorite thing about living in Italy has been the people. It is such a community-driven place, with a family forward focus, and I've loved getting to be adopted into it. I'm so grateful for Rosanna, my Italian mom who has given me free coffee whenever I've walked into her cafe looking like a zombie from staying up too late writing the past few weeks. I'm so grateful for Giusi and Giovanna who are like my Italian aunts who let me use the AC at their bar after the library closes and bring me plates upon plates of snacks as I study. I'm so grateful for the friends I've made, and for all the side characters we see when we are out and about. I'm gonna miss being a little local in this little town, but the people and the place and the Piacentini Fridays will always be in my heart and in my (now much smaller) camera roll.