One of my many regrets in life is that my daughters will never see the Italy I knew. Other people probably feel the same about Greece， France， Spain or Portugal， recalling the age before everyone seemed to be everywhere. When even Florence was not that crowded in summer and the small towns and villages of Tuscany and central Italy—certainly the south—were Italian in every way： very few foreigners and that uncompromised， apparently 1）indestructible way of life.

An early start in the cool of morning， hard work followed by a good lunch with wine from a jug. Then the sacred siesta—a nap， or cuddling-up with someone else during the Italian afternoon， when everything is determinedly chiuso—closed. After the 2）impenitent heat of day 3）relents， the 4）shutters reopen and evening begins for most with the passeggiata， Grandpa on the arm of his granddaughter， teenagers showing off， heated discussion over Gazetta dello Sport or the Communist partys daily， LUnità， posted on the wall. For others， back to work： for a few hours， behind the counter or in the office. On Sundays： forget it—no， you cannot go and buy this or that. Those metal shutters are down and will remain so until Monday morning， possibly late Monday afternoon. Sunday lunch lasts from about 3：30 P.M. till past 11.

This is rose-tinted and ignores the appalling 5）tribulations some people faced， but these customs still exist in Italy and across the Mediterranean and Aegean， just about. It is called the quality of life and it is how I lived—and worked—for a fair while during the early 1970s and （less relaxedly） as a correspondent in the 1990s. But this popular civilisation is endangered， because of a 6）pincer movement by tourism and the norths economic doctrines. In the big cities—Rome， Florence—Sunday is just not Sunday any more. The pressure is on southern Europe to stop the indulgences and 7）heed our own headlines about debt and deficit： CRISIS IN THE EUROZONE！ AUSTERITY！

Millions of people will leave Britain， northern Europe and America this holiday season， heading for the lands where the olive trees grow. Many holidaymakers will enjoy playing at—perhaps even enviably 8）gawping at—the way life is lived among the cypresses. Understandably， theyll adopt a few local habits for this precious week or two： a quick morning espresso at the bar； a longer lunch than at home； a siesta， indeed； an aperitif in the square before dinner outdoors. They may be a little annoyed that the church or museum they wanted to visit is shut for the afternoon， but， walking around， will hear the echo of their footsteps off the old stone walls and admire the 9）tenacity with which the town has gone restfully silent in a way no place in northern Europe does.

The few places left that have fended off mass tourism and preserved their way of life， such as Ikaria， the plains of Castile， the wilds of Abruzzo， are， in reality， everything that our northern society， our managers， the IMF， businessmen， politicians—both 10）Eurosceptics and 11）Angela Merkel—despise. The politics of the EU （and Britains variation on its theme） are nothing if not a grinding of southern Europe； bludgeoning the south into abandoning its lazy ways， sprucing up， paying off its debt and Being like us！

And so our August holidays on cobblestones and land where the vine grows become very weird， as people go to play at the way of life their leaders—maybe even they themselves—are destroying. Many of those from Britain， America， Germany and elsewhere this weekend setting off to savour the southern life are the politicians， bankers， lawyers， managers， civil servants， thinktank “brains”—newspaper columnists indeed—who have decided， generally if not individually， that our Anglo-American way of capitalism is the only way to go. Fuelled， it sometimes feels， more by some combination of cocaine， Red Bull and Viagra than 12）aromatic coffee， a cool aperitif and an afternoon snooze.

But in August， we leave our frantic 13）modus vivendi behind， to enjoy theirs. “Oh， look at those little old men playing chess on the pavement—so sweet！” “Campari-soda per favore！” “Tasha， you must try the époisses， its divine！” “I so love the way they whizz about on scooters without helmets and no one wears seat belts—its such fun！” Then September comes， back to balancing the books， the shareholders interests， the“aggressively managed 14）portfolio”， the 15）FTSE and 16）Dow Jones. Thats enough 17）Caravaggio and 18）mortadella for one year， time for a new austerity package—those lazy bloody Latins…

我人生中的眾多遺憾之一便是，我的女兒再也見不到我所熟知的那個意大利了。其他人也許會對希臘、法國、西班牙或葡萄牙持有相同的感受，只要回想起過去那個并非人人似乎都能周游世界的年代。那時的夏日連佛羅倫薩也不會這般人頭攢動，托斯卡納的小村小鎮(zhèn)和意大利中心地帶——當(dāng)然還少不了意大利南部——還完全屬于意大利人：幾乎見不到外國人，大家的生活方式還是不打折扣，顯然堅不可摧。

在涼爽的清晨早起，開始一天的生活，辛勤的工作之后是伴著大罐美酒的豐盛午餐。接著是神圣的午休時間——在意大利的午后打個小盹或與某人相依共眠，而其他的一切則是斷然地“chiuso”——關(guān)門。當(dāng)白日毫無愧意的炎熱稍稍消退后，百葉窗被重新打開，對于大多數(shù)人來說，夜晚以悠閑的散步為開始，爺爺倚著孫女的臂膀，少年們顯擺著自己，熱切地討論著墻上張貼的《米蘭體育報》或共產(chǎn)黨日報——《團(tuán)結(jié)報》。而其他人則返回去工作：在柜臺后或辦公室里干上幾個小時的活兒。到了周日：別想了——不行，你不可能出門買點這個買點那個。那些櫥窗金屬百葉簾全都關(guān)上了，并且會一直持續(xù)到周一清晨，也有可能是周一傍晚。周日午餐會從下午三點半左右一直持續(xù)到晚上十一點以后。

這是對舊時光的過分美化，忽視了當(dāng)時有些人所面對的艱苦磨難，但這些風(fēng)俗依然存在于意大利，而且整個地中海和愛琴海地區(qū)也幾乎如是。這被稱為生活品質(zhì)，很大程度上它也是我曾經(jīng)在上世紀(jì)七十年代早期生活和工作的方式，上世紀(jì)九十年代我當(dāng)記者時亦是如此，即使日子已不如以前輕松。但這一大眾文化卻因為旅游業(yè)和北方經(jīng)濟主義的夾攻而遭遇危險——羅馬、佛羅倫薩這樣的大城市——周日已不再是周日了。南歐受到了壓力，必須停止享樂，而要留意我們自己關(guān)于債務(wù)和赤字的新聞標(biāo)題：歐元區(qū)危機！財政緊縮！

這個旅游旺季里，數(shù)百萬人會離開英國、北歐和美國，直奔橄欖樹生長的地方而去。許多度假的游客們將會享受到——也許甚至是滿懷羨慕地傻看著——那柏樹間愜意的生活方式?？梢岳斫獾氖?，他們將在這珍貴的一兩周假期里稍稍入鄉(xiāng)隨俗：清晨在酒吧里快速地喝上一杯濃縮咖啡；吃上一頓比在自家享用時間稍長的午餐；一場真正的午睡；戶外晚餐前在廣場上來杯開胃酒。他們也許還會感到些許惱怒，因為他們想要游玩的教堂或博物館在下午都關(guān)門了，但四處走走，會聽到古老石墻上傳來他們腳步的回聲，繼而對小鎮(zhèn)的韌力肅然起敬，因為這里有著歐洲北部任何地方都無法體會到的悠閑靜謐。

為數(shù)不多的幾個阻擋了游客潮，并保存了自身生活方式的地方，例如伊卡里亞島、卡斯蒂利亞平原、阿布魯奇，實際上備受我們的北方社會、我們的經(jīng)理人、國際貨幣基金組織、商人和政客們（無論是疑歐派還是安格拉·默克爾）的鄙視。歐盟的政治（以及英國在此主題上的百變態(tài)度）無非就是對南歐的拷打磨難，逼迫其拋棄懶惰的方式，打醒精神，償還債務(wù)，并且，過得要像我們一樣！

于是，我們到這些鵝卵石地及葡萄園國度的八月假期便顯得非常奇怪，因為人們?nèi)ンw驗的正是其領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人——或者甚至他們自己——正設(shè)法摧毀的生活方式。這一眾周末出發(fā)去享受南部生活的英美德及其他別國的游客正是那些政客、銀行家、律師、經(jīng)理人、公務(wù)員、智囊團(tuán)“智者”（實際是報紙專欄作家）。他們都認(rèn)定英美資本主義方式是唯一的發(fā)展之道，盡管他們不一定私底下都認(rèn)同，但總的輿論觀感如此。有時候讓人覺得他們更多的是受了某種可卡因、紅牛和偉哥混合物的刺激，而非拜香濃咖啡、清涼開胃酒和午后小盹的恩賜。

但是在八月，我們將自己瘋狂的生活方式拋諸腦后，轉(zhuǎn)而去享受他們的方式?！芭叮茨切┰谌诵械郎舷孪笃宓男±项^們——太可愛了！”“請來杯金巴利—蘇打！”“塔莎，你一定要試試這個芝士，太棒了！”“我真喜歡他們不帶頭盔就騎著小摩托車四處跑，而且沒人系安全帶——真是太有趣了！”接著九月來臨，又回歸管理賬簿、持股人利益、“積極型管理投資組合”、富時指數(shù)和道瓊斯指數(shù)。這一年也看夠卡拉瓦喬名畫，吃夠意式肉腸了，是時候展開新一輪緊縮政策了——那些該死的拉丁懶鬼……