La Bella Figura

Since arriving in Italy, the phrase "la bella figura" comes up constantly. Before arriving in Rome, I thought I had a fair sense of what it meant--attending to looking one's best, putting one's best foot forward. I had no idea, however, how ingrained "la bella figura" is in everyday life. The first hint of this was in Grado (an island beach resort town on the Adriatic, near Trieste, where we did our intensive language program). At the beach entrance was an enormous and very public mirror, where people coming and going from the beach were stopping to check and adjust their appearance. I flash back to Chicago, where even the beach bathrooms do not have mirrors, or if they do they are made of heavily-graffiti-ed nonbreakable material with all the reflective qualities of a car fender...no, "la bella figura" is decidedly not part of American culture!

As we've gradually come to appreciate, la bella figura pertains not only to bodies, but to presentations in general. The butcher I frequent at the market at Piazza San Cosimato, like other butchers here, is not just content to present you with a pile of sliced salami wrapped in paper, instead he takes the time to carefully arrange all the slices in pleasing little patterns, then folds the paper around it as if it were a little present. Unwrapping lunchmeats and cheeses has never been so much fun!