For this week's view of life in Italy, I have dipped into my huge archives of 40 years as a journalist/author here in Italy . Some of the information was originally published on International Daily News, Rome on April 19, 1979
On the outskirts of many villages and along country roads you may notice wet laundry spread out on the top of bushes to dry. This saves the trouble and expense of setting up a clothesline and some say that it makes the laundry whiter since it is in closer contact with the chlorophyll of the plants.
doing the laundry - in the 16th century
And what about clotheslines in the city, especially those strung across courtyards and stretched between windows in the older neighborhoods of Rome? Most families use the single pulley system with nylon cords or stronger ones with a steel center that hardly ever break.
illustration from the 1979 article
The clotheslines which stretch below my 5th floor window, in the Prati neighborhood near St. Peter’s Basilica, are at the same time ingenious but extremely complicated systems: the antithesis of the sheets flung over low bushes to dry.
There is a stationary iron wire- which rusts and leaves indelible rust stains on Nonna’s heirloom linens- and a supplementary nylon cord, infinitely thin, which breaks at least once a year and must be repaired by splicing worthy of a Sixth Fleet sailor. Along this double cord are run a series of metal rings with hanging strings- white, brown and black, depending on their age.
To the strings are tied the corners of the sheets, skirts and other family biancheria , then the rings, with clothing attached, are pushed out along the line with the help of an old broom handle, or perhaps two broom handles tied together, in order to reach the further end of the line. The consequence of this system is that all the towels, napkins and tablecloths of these families, if not expertly ironed, remain with little rabbit ears on two ends.
On those annual occasions when I must help my next-door neighbor repair the line I’ve tried some propaganda in favor of clothespins and pulleys, but the years go by and the traditional system prevails.
The back story of this article: the neighboring family who used this incredibly complicated laundry system came from Vallerano, a small town in the province of Viterbo, close to where I now live. It was the normal system in their town 40 years ago and they brought it with them when they moved to the big city.
Here in Vetralla I have not seen the rabbit ear system, but there is a comunal wash house or lavatoio directly beneath my palazzo which has been in use since it was built in 1851.
This neighborhood wash house is one of dozens used nowadays only for heavy items, since most families have a modern washing machine. In the past however there were strict rules and men were not allowed. Whoever arrived first in the morning would use the upper “ tub” where the clean water flows in. After a hearty scrub on the smooth stone the clothes were rinsed then hung to dry in the piazza.
During the summer’s hottest days the lavatoio still does double duty as an improvised pool for the local kids.
You often find monothematic laundry lines: perhaps a dozen aprons from the local trattoria or butcher shop. I couldn’t find a photo of aprons, but this gives you the idea.
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Today I had the delightful surprise of a visit from lovely Dutch-Italian family who bought “Etruria travel, history and itineraries in central Italy“ when it came out in 2014. They were passing through the area and stopped to pick up copies of several other titles published over these past 10 years! Grazie Shirley , Stefano e Vittorio!
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