Il Dolce Far Niente (The sweetness of doing nothing)

“il Dolce far niente!” It is a well known Italian phrase that translates to - 'the sweetness of doing nothing'. Apparently, Italians have figured out how to spend their leisure time, enjoying idleness without indulging in boredom – as their neighbors the French famously do. Articles and books have been written on the subject and a movie has been made too. People even credit this ability or attitude in equal measure with wine and olive oil – for their health and happiness.

Suffice it to say that the idea of ‘Dolce Far Niente’ interested my wife and I immensely,  and we decided to explore further by taking a week-long tripthis summer  – our very first – to Italy –  this summer. (It’s still summer isn't it?)

My idea of the trip was that we will soak in the place, its flavor and its mood and do nothing else - in short enjoy the Dolce Far Niente - for at least a week. As they say about best laid plans ...they have a tendency of going off-script.

We split the tasks – I would book the air tickets and she would do the planning. Planning? I wondered!

It should have given me a clue of the things to come, when my wife picked up 2 guidebooks from the local bookshop, another 3 from the county library and an assortment of travel DVDs. I wondered if idleness too required extensive instruction?

Even before the tickets had been booked, detailed maps with carefully highlighted locations, routes and timings began appearing everywhere - on the kitchen island, dining table and bedside. Our tabletop printer was busy churning out brochures, maps and bookings

I still kept on believing that it was the lazy life that we were going there for – and little else.

One fine morning - we found ourselves at the Fiumicino Airport Rome and began exploring transportation options to our hotel.

For two days we wandered around Rome taking in ancient ruins, Roman Architecture and art. Then another two tramping through the medieval city of Florence enduring an art overload – out of which – all that remained with me was the statue of ‘David’ by Michael Angelo And if you think that was busy, consider day 5 when we toured 3 towns in Tuscany in a one-day bus trip – which included a trip to the tower that they couldn't build straight.

It was while I was sitting idly for about 15 minutes on a farm in Tuscany – seeing the town of San Gimignano in the distance – that it hit me: I hadn't checked a single email, nor received a phone call or text message in all these days. I hadn't worried about drop-off and pickup arrangements for our kids to and from school and other enrichment activities. In short – despite the busy site-seeing schedule we were on – our minds were uncluttered and in a way – we were enjoying the Dolce Far Niente of it. And that thought added to the happy feeling of the moment.

Now that I get it, I think I can put that elaborate Italian phrase into a single word. I call it ‘Golfing’.