After an early morning run through the parks and back streets of this off-season resort island, I went back for a more leisurely stroll to observe. The fishermen pulling their rowboats up to shore and selling their catch. Locals hanging out in doorways, gossiping, enjoying the slower pace after the summer crowds have gone. And this man, reading the death notices pasted up on a neighborhood wall. I’d seen this type of announcement before on earlier trips to Naples (visible just across the bay from Ischia.) Even in this day of texting, Facebook and such, this is still the traditional way for Italian families to let friends and neighbors know of a loved one’s passing (scomparsa), the anniversary (trigesimo = thirtieth) of a past death, and the time and place of any memorial Mass to be held.
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