{"id":6562,"date":"2023-08-14T11:15:27","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T15:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/?p=6562"},"modified":"2023-08-14T11:15:29","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T15:15:29","slug":"dolce-far-niente-learn-the-italian-art-of-doing-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/14\/dolce-far-niente-learn-the-italian-art-of-doing-nothing\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolce far niente: Learn the Italian art of doing nothing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By HELEN RUSSELLSPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL –<\/em><\/strong> Dolce far niente \u2013 or the sweetness of doing nothing \u2013 from the Latin dulcis meaning \u201csweet; facere, meaning \u201cto make or do\u201d; and nec entem \u2013 literally \u201cnot a being.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

Although difficult to determine when the phrase was first used (proponents were far too peaced out to bother transcribing), the term appears in print in the memoirs of Casanova, the famous 18th-century Italian adventurer. Presumably when he eventually tired of all his carnal and geographical adventuring and needed a rest. Today, the term exists as a treasured concept that\u2019s seldom spoken out loud but often hashtagged on Instagram accompanying pictures of Italians in hammocks. Casanova would be #proud.<\/p>

Forget Anita Ekberg paddling in the Trevi fountain at dawn in La Dolce Vita: <\/em>think Fellini passed out in a hammock after the wrap party (probably). Or the vague sense memory of sitting in the shade on a summer\u2019s day long ago, before you became preoccupied with work, family, and the hamster wheel of \u201clife.\u201d Dolce far niente <\/em>is a soul-expanding celebration of doing nothing \u2013 something that\u2019s actively discouraged in much of the world where the cult of \u201cbusy\u201d is ubiquitous. Okay, so Italy hasn\u2019t exactly topped any happiness rankings in recent years, but the cliche of the carefree Italian still exists \u2013 and with good reason. Italians do \u201cnothing” like no other nation and perfecting the art takes style and skill \u2013 because there\u2019s more to it than meets the eye.<\/p>

\u201cDolce far niente <\/em>is almost an act of defiance for Italians,\u201d says Francesco De Carlo, a comedian born and bred in Rome. \u201cWe live in a country with a lot of corruption where we don\u2019t trust the law, or rules, or society. \u2026 We don\u2019t even like the referee in soccer. And we LOVE soccer,” he tells me, \u201cso why shouldn\u2019t we opt out? Why shouldn\u2019t we take a break whenever we can to stay happy?\u201d<\/p>

“There is chaos all around in Italy so the only thing you can depend on is friends and family,\u201d says Francesco, adding that, \u201chappiness is in the little things.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>

It\u2019s watching the world go by over coffee and a cornetto<\/em>. It\u2019s laughing at tourists. Or politicians. Or the Pope. \u201cOr anything really,\u201d says Francesco. \u201cWe have to laugh or we\u2019ll cry, so humour is very important. In Rome, especially, everyone is a comedian. The waiter bringing your coffee will stop and tell the whole restaurant a joke first. You just have to wait.\u201d While the seconds tick by, instead of drumming fingers on a table or checking a phone incessantly, Italians will relax into the moment. That\u2019s dolce far niente<\/em>. \u201cIn the U.K., you\u2019re obsessed with schedules, with everything running on time,\u201d Francesco shakes his head: \u201cPeople work a lot then they stop working and go crazy, drinking until they forget themselves.\u201d I shift uncomfortably in my seat. \u201cBut in Italy, we drink to enjoy ourselves.<\/p>

“There\u2019s not so big a difference between working and not working for Italians and we don\u2019t worry too much about the future \u2013 chissenefrega<\/em> \u2013 we just enjoy the present.\u201d<\/p>

This mode of thinking is revolutionary in its simplicity. Many of us search for relaxation by travelling to exotic locations, drinking to oblivion, or blotting out the noise of modern life with whatever our favoured crutch might be. But what if we were to let the chaos envelop us or sank into it like a hot bath? What if, instead of saving up our \u201cfun quota\u201d for an annual escape, we spread it over the minutes, hours, and days throughout the year and gave \u201cenjoying life\u201d a go? The Italians seem to. Other significant words include\u00a0penichella<\/em>, similar to the Spanish\u00a0siesta<\/em>;\u00a0meriggiare<\/em>, a poetic term that means \u201cto pass the hottest hours of the day in the shade\u201d; and\u00a0abbiocco<\/em>, a noun used to describe the sleepy feeling you get after a big meal. Drowsiness is such an art form in Italy that the phenomenon of doing nothing has been enshrined in the lexicon.<\/p>

Read more here<\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dolce far niente \u2013 or the sweetness of doing nothing \u2013 from the Latin dulcis meaning \u201csweet; facere, meaning \u201cto make or do\u201d; and nec entem \u2013 literally \u201cnot a being.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1470,1469,1471],"class_list":{"0":"post-6562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-art-of-doing-nothing","9":"tag-dolce-far-niente","10":"tag-italian-lifestyle"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Dolce-far-niente.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6562"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6564,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6562\/revisions\/6564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}