free time

How do young people spend their free time in our country? Preferably, hanging out with friends. Let’s confirm the old cliché: Italians are generally quite lively and gregarious.

Busy afternoons
During short breaks, students as well as employees never fail to grab a cup of hot coffee or a refreshing drink and gather around for a chat. But if they have more time, besides the well-liked shopping and going for drinks with friends, structured or finalised activities are also likely to keep them busy. Amongst the most popular: sport, fitness and open air activities, cultural activities, social and voluntary work. As in the rest of the world, however, outdoor hobbies are increasingly giving way to two favourite indoor pastimes: social networking and computer games.

Nights out
Going to the cinema is generally reckoned to be the best way to spend a relaxing evening, never mind if the movie is the most horrific thriller ever. As for concertgoers, they have plenty of opportunities to attend both classical and pop performances all over the country, from the meditative baroque sonata held in a richly decorated chapel to the utterly wild rock concert invading the stadium. Most of the time, however, young people prefer to spend their evenings and nights out going clubbing or meeting in pubs and bars. Ultimate guides to the places to go are available in all major cities but will hardly prove definitive. If you really don’t want to miss the local fashionable venues and trendy discos, all you have to do is ask someone of your own age for advice. Make sure you have the basic information, otherwise you’ll risk going to the right place but on the wrong day (e.g. the day which would suit your parents’ age range best), or to the right place but at the wrong time (e.g. the hour sleepy music is put on), or to the wrong place altogether. Anyway, opening before 11.30 p.m. is considered unforgivably out for discos, so you will have plenty of time to make your enquiries, find out everything about dress codes, and, why not, come up with an appropriate outfit.

Weekend breaks
If you have any energy left after the busy Italian afternoons and nights you have endured during the week, you could also try doing the same things on a larger scale at the weekend, which is what we actually end up doing quite often. If you don’t mind trying something different instead, and of course once you have seen the sights of the town you are living in, we would recommend you set out on a short-distance trip. Italian art cities form a well-linked network, in a couple of hours by car, coach or train you can reach an incredible number of places of cultural, historical or natural interest. Italians are keen on visiting their country, love to associate sightseeing and eating out, and are more and more partial to farm holidays and local culinary traditions.