City tales - Milan lethargy.

Milan is never described as dormant, it is never slow or passive. Unless you are talking about he month of August.

Milan in August is stagnant, it is hot and stuffy, it is empty and deserted. It is sleeping.

Milan in August is quiet, and its peacefulness is almost unbearable. It is a place where you can feel your worst nightmares coming to life, its calmness is alarming. It isn't a city for placidness.

However, once a year it goes into hibernation, and the people roaming the streets look lost and dismayed, as if they can't quite understand what is happening around them.

Nowadays the holiday season is shorter. People aren't going away for the whole month anymore, so a new situation is happening, we are stirring the city from its sleep.

Walking the streets around the end of the month is like looking at a bear coming out of hibernation. Gradually, as the days wear out, we see shops opening up slowly as if just out of bed. Workers sweeping and cleaning as when we wash our faces to clean off the sleepy eyes. People that up until a few weeks ago were milky white, not are cappuccinos. All with a sluggish manner, in tune with their holiday rhythm.

Now we also experience the other side of the city, the side that has never closed, and they are high on coffee, they are resentful, they are fighting back the city and we can feel that it is not linking it quite so much.