Bambini are amazing. My 9 year old nipotino (nephew) Vito loves soccer (aka calico/football/futbol) and all things associated. He had predicted Germany would win the World Cup before it even started. Vito came to Orsara di Puglia this year, and really wanted to play, so our Zia called a friend whose son played and arranged to have them meet ‘sotto la sveglia’ (under the clock) at Porta San Pietro at 9pm. When we went to meet him, I also saw my friends’ son and asked him if he liked to play. Within minutes, all of the 10-11 year old boys in the area had gathered and enthusiastically arranged to meet the next morning at ‘il campetto’ (the small soccer field) for a game, then they all went for a passeggiata. It was the cutest thing ever and could have been a TV advertisement for the next world cup!
The next morning, they all showed up and there were enough boys for 2 teams. They played for 2 hours and Vito was excited that they all played as enthusiastically as he did. He understands Italian quite well, and even with all the loud ‘friendly arguing’ in dialetto and hand gestures, they had no problems communicating.  They were adorable, and got together to play 2 more times while Vito was there.  They even played in the afternoons in the narrow streets, and went out for pizza Margherita or a passeggiata in the evenings. I think that if bambini were in charge….. maybe there would be hope for world peace?