Eric: Living in Italy (late 1950s)


Figure 1.-- Since I'm up in the Dolamite Mountains, I'm dressed more in the Italian play cloths style. I'm wearing high cut length shorts, a Tyrolian cap, and flip flops. The mountains are solid marble, and the water bright blue from dissolved copper. As there was no air conditioning, we spent a great deal of time in the mountains during the summer. Click on the image to see my cap. It is the same Tryolian cap photographed today, 45 years later. While the plume has not fared well, the rest of the cap is still in excellent shape with all the collected pins still attached.

We lived in Italy for a while. We enjoyed out time in Italy. It was quite an experience for us all. We were there during the late 1950s. I made many Italian friends. We both traveled around Italy, but also many places in Europe as well. I had both Italian and American style play clothes. I think that is because mom brought some clothes with us, but we had to buy clothes while we were in Italy. While I didn't wear short pants much in America, mom did but shorts for me in Italy and I wore them for play while I was there. I think, however, I ,ostly dressed in my American clothes. Our family photographs show me playing in both Italian and American style clothing. The first photo shows me in in normal play cloths.

The Experience

My dad was in the Air Force so when he was assigned to Italy, we all tagged along. We lived in Italy for 2 years. We really enjoyed out time in Italy. It was quite an experience for us all. We were all throughly American with out any previous experience with Italy or any other foreign countries. We were there during the late 1950s.

Play Clothes

I had both Italian and American style play clothes. I think that is because mom brought some clothes with us, but we had to buy clothes while we were in Italy. While I didn't wear short pants much in America, mom did but shorts for me in Italy and I wore them for play while I was there. Our family photographs show me playing in both Italian and American style clothing. The first photo shows me in in normal play cloths.

Italian-style play clothes

A family snapshot shows me in in play cloths (figure 1). Since I'm up in the Dolamite Mountains, I'm dressed more in the Italian play cloths style. I'm wearing high cut length shorts, a Tyrolian cap, and flip flops. The mountains are solid marble, and the water bright blue from dissolved copper. As there was no air conditioning, we spent a great deal of time in the mountains during the summer. Aviano Air Force Base is right up against the mountains and these caps were quite common in everyday dress. I'm not sure if we followed a local custom, but we decorated our caps with pins from the various countries that we visited. I remember getting new pins for our caps was a real treat. We also wore our Italian-style play clothes around the house, especially during the Summer when the weather could be really hot.

American-style play clothes

We also had our jeans. They were less common for the Italian children as they were just beginning to become popular. Some teenagers had them, but not very many younger boys. Thus we really stood out as Americans when we wore them. A family snapshot hows all of us kids in our American style cloths, but we are still wearing our Tyrolian caps. Left to right, David, me, Robin, and Rink. Notice the knee patches that Rink has on his jeans. Getting clothing from the US could take months, so mom patched our American clothing and wore a lot of shorts with local shoes.

Paulo

I made many Italian friends. This is my best friend, Paulo. I'm 8 years old, and Paulo is already 9. I'm wearing jeans. Pablo almost always wore shorts , except when it was really cold. Note how short his socks and shorts are, even on a rather cold Fall day. Is was very common to see boys wearing heavy sweaters and short shorts. When he went to school, he wore a black smock with white collar and blue bow. His family background is interesting. He is the son of the chief of police, who just happened to be a communist in a town hosting a sensitive North American Treaty Organization (NATO) air base. His dad and my dad were also quite friendly.

Travels

We both traveled around Italy, but also many places in Europe as well. Something that I'd totally forgotten about was the classic buckle front yellow raincoat with the full head covering helmet. This picture is taking at the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark. My dad found it while were sorting old 35mm slides. You may note that it is a sunny day. We camped all over Europe in our VW Microbus, and had very limited space for clothing. Everything had to be multi-purpose, so here is my rain coat, windbreaker, and overcoat. While some of my friends thought these raincoats were sissy stuff, I remember that it actually kept me quite dry. As a teenager walking through the rain in my leaky windbreaker I had fond memories of that style coat.





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Created: 1:10 AM 9/29/2005
Last updated: 9:22 AM 11/22/2005