In the Rain, Rome is Fashionable and Gallant

Londoners will usually slog bareheaded, even coatless, through most any drizzle or downpour.

But Romans never carry rain shields below a certain standard of fashion. They also are gallant. (Read to end)

In Rome's Rain, a Moment of Galanteria

Chicago Tribune By Christine Spolar Tribune correspondent March 12, 2008

ROME

In a city with movie-set vistas, even rain falls with panache.

Facing winter's chill , Romans apparently would never dream of getting wet (in stark contrast to, say, Londoners who usually slog bareheaded, even coatless, through most any drizzle or downpour). Nor would Romans carry rain shields below a certain standard of fashion.

On the dreariest of mornings, deliverymen in blue overalls roll carts down cobblestone streets with one hand. In the other, they hoist matching blue umbrellas. Women head to work with pretty waterproof parasols festooned with prints of dogs, birds and buckles.Businessmen with nattily wrapped wool scarves at their throats embark on their journeys with wood-trimmed umbrellas in smart contrasting shades.
Mothers are by far the most precious of rain warriors. They grasp Mary Poppins-sized ombrelli, stand guard outside schools and push and shove as close to the entrance as they can. They call frantically to their over-dressed offspring who might suffer a drop of the element: "Non ti bagnare! - Don't get wet!"

A friend of mine tells me that rain in temperate Rome is actually imbued with superstition. Italians really believe it is harmful, she said, and walking without care in the rain is akin to walking barefoot in the streets.

You just don't do it.

I walk every morning for an hour--rain or shine--for exercise. I don't wear a hood; I can't imagine trying to work up a sweat with an umbrella in hand. I also realize that I am usually the only person marching ahead with a lost-in-a-lagoon look. The mustachioed barman at my local cafe looks alarmed whenever I stroll in for my morning cafe macchiato with raindrops rolling down my face.

But one morning this week, walking in the rain lived up to Rome's cinematic potential. Caught in a downpour, I was standing on a street corner near Piazza Navona, waiting for a traffic light to turn green. I blinked mistily to my left to see a crushingly good-looking man in a grey suit and bearing a nicely tartan-crested umbrella.

Self-conscious of my sodden state, I turned quickly away. Suddenly, I realized he had stepped next to me and had lifted his umbrella to cover us both. I looked up, a little wide-eyed. He shrugged, laughed out loud and maintained guard. When the light changed, we nodded, I chirped grazie and we, both smiling, turned to our separate paths.

A moment of Italian galanteria had graced the day.

www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-rome-rain-080312,1,5264856.story