When I take the metro and bus to school, I see lots of people dressed for work.
When going somewhere outside of the city or traveling on the outer edges, people tend to drive more than walk or bus. The outer areas of the city were built later so they have wider roads, more spaces for cars, and the public transportation is slightly more sparse and inconvenient.
I’ve been surprised at how easy it is to live in Italy without a car. The public transportation can take me anywhere I want to go! If a bus or tram is delayed, it’s always easy enough to just walk. I live a 40-minute walk or 30-minute metro away from my university. Most days I take bus number 90 to the metro station and then take the Green metro line to school. However, the weather has started to warm up so I’ve been walking more! It’s really nice to get some fresh air and walk along the cobblestone streets. The first part of my walk cuts through a park where lots of small flowers are growing! Italy doesn’t have the traditional manicured grass for their parks so the more wild grass leaves lots of space for pretty dandelions and daisies.
On a bus with Italians, I quickly noticed that their idea of personal space is very different from ours. People are crammed shoulder to shoulder and will not hesitate to squeeze into an already full bus. Getting used to the smaller personal space bubbles was tricky at first, but now I’m used to sharing the bus with lots of people during the busy hours of the day!
The tiny streets and limited parking also mean that the people who do have cars tend to have very small ones. The biggest cars are the five passenger sedans.
