La Famiglia

As I sit in the piazza of a small Umbrian town watching old men congregate round the war memorial, the bars open, siesta ends and families fill up the town. It's a small town, middle class, blue collar, doing it tough in today's Europe. Yet there is none of the aggressive attitude found in other Euro-zone countries looking for blame in sliding economies because here family will always matter more than work or the lack of it. Family bonds are strong here and they overcome the depressive nature surrounding lack of employment, unfinished capital works and homes half finished. It took four hundred years to finish the castle on the hill, so there will be plenty of time to finish the house, when times improve.

The Romans had it right, centuries ago, when they looked to increase time away from the fields, eventually turning it into leisure, lounging around the villa peeling grapes, watching Saturday afternoon gladiatorial contests and working on new pasta styles. Things were starting to look up for a work life balance, if only the Brits hadn't come along with that dam Industrial Revolution, we'd still be enjoying the villa lifestyle and making sure family was at the top of our priorities.

How often do we talk about the balance between work and life or family? How often do we attend conferences with so called lifestyle experts, espousing their latest tome on how to manage our time more efficiently? How often have we asked ourselves, what am I still doing at work or why am I still doing emails at 10 at night? We keep asking the questions but don't seem to be coming up with any definitive answers.

None of the above questions are being asked around the piazza as the waft of freshly baked bread and pasta sauce thin the crowd heading home to a full family table. None of the above questions matter, if there is a family or town event happening today, tomorrow or next week. As far as the Italians are concerned, there will always be time for work, maybe not today or tomorrow but soon, because first they take care of family and friends before any other pressing matters.

Many in the corporate world, say the choice of family over meetings, emails, constant connection and corporate success, is the reason Mediterranean economies are in the state they are in. They see the different priorities as lack of motivation and engagement, and as signs the work won't get done in time. Time has a different meaning here and because corporate timeframes aren't adhered to, doesn't mean the work won't get done.

Others point at lessons to be learnt from where I sit in the piazza and that somewhere in the middle of both the corporate and family cultures, lies an optimum lifestyle choice. I agree but the choices to be made are often difficult and a step too far in either direction makes it hard to come back to a middle ground where life balances best. Perhaps I'll start with some freshly baked bread and a bowl of pasta before answering those emails.