*You’re receiving this because you signed up for the Hand & Eye newsletter. To find out more about this new iteration, click here. Thanks!
I think if you want to understand a key difference between American and Italian culture, a good place to look is the highway rest stop. Specifically, look at Autogrill, the ubiquitous Italian chain. My favorite Autogrills feature a space age exterior design - the best ones look like moon bases from a SciFi movie - and they offer a completely different experience than anything in the U.S.
The first time I stopped into an Autogrill, I got out of the car and there were a dozen Ferraris parked outside. Red ones, black ones, yellow ones, but mostly red ones, because they were Ferraris and this is Italy. I was a little speechless. My father and I have a running conversation about how Ferraris are everywhere in Italy (we both appreciate these fine machines) and I was thinking I have to get a picture for him, he’ll love this. But then I wavered and said ehh whatever, I’ll get a pic at the next Autogrill because Ferraris are everywhere here. Of course, I never saw that many Ferraris in one place again. Always take the picture is the point!
But back to Autogrill and why it’s so amazing.
First, there’s a coffee bar. This is where you order coffee at a bar and they serve it to you in a porcelain cup with a saucer. You drink it AT THE BAR. There is no coffee to go (maybe there is, but no one gets it this way). This is standard procedure in Italy. Why would you take your coffee to go? You’ve just been sitting in a car. Stop and stay for a second.
The scene at the coffee bar in Autogrill is always a little chaotic and confusing, and a bit overwhelming if you don’t really speak Italian. First, you pay and then bring your receipt to the barista guy. He’s there throwing saucers out on the bar and quickly taking orders and filling them. People are huddled around the bar and it can be difficult to squeeze in and hand him the receipt sometimes. When you hand the receipt to the barista, it’s not clear he read it or heard you, but seconds later a frothy coffee lands in front of you. There at the bar, everyone shoots down their espressos and cappuccinos, grubs a quick pastry, and takes off.
The coffee is good too. It’s just as good as any standard bougie coffeehouse coffee in the US, but way cheaper. I think maybe 1 euro for a cappuccino. There’s always a small waste bin for all the napkins and whatnot, but it’s usually pretty neglected. By the afternoon the floor has tons of pastry crumbs and paper on it, the battle scars of a day of relentless coffee consumption (You see this at a lot of coffee bars and I love it).
Even though the exterior of Autogrill is space age, this classic Italian coffee ritual - of drinking at the bar - endures despite the futuristic surroundings. It’s obvious the designers of Autogrill had a vision for our future and knew it had to include the traditional coffee bar.
When you’re done with your coffee, you wind your way through rows and rows of pasta sliced meats, wine and other Italian foods. There’s also a panini bar too where you can get some good cheap warm sandwiches. The first time I went to Autogrill, I felt like I’d found a roadside Whole Foods.
Back in the US, this is of course not the vibe you find at rest stops. It's greasy fast food, mediocre coffee, and a race to get in and get back on the road as fast as you can. Sometimes, honestly, that’s what I prefer as well. I just want to get a coffee and bring it to my car and sip it for 30 minutes and get to where I’m going.
Being in Italy, in a culture that really values the moments like this, forces you to take a second and chill. It’s not like being in the US, where people buy books about living the moment and spend a bunch of time stressing about how to slow down and enjoy slow food, and slow wine, and slow everything. Italy is just set up that way.
Of course, that’s probably changing too.
Aside from the obvious: Italians have better coffee at rest stops observation, there’s something else that Autogrill tells me about society in America and Italy and it’s this: It's probably impossible to slow down the pace of a society. We can speed things up, but we’ll never be able to slow things down again.
In America, we want to go fast and are always in a hurry, even if we download meditations apps and genuinely try to live in the moment. No matter how many books Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra sell, American culture will always be in a rush to go faster. There’s no reversing this.
Meanwhile, Italy is holding firmly onto a culture that celebrates slowing down and appreciating the moment, and right now that seems more important than ever.
Great read! I could almost smell the coffee!
Love this John. I need more Autogrill in my life. Also reminds me of reading something about German automakers (maybe BMW) having to reengineer cars to include cup holders for the US market, because on the autobahn you drive - you don't drink coffee and hold a big mac... In the US we like to cram all those things together. Not to say that's bad, just different.