You see, Italy is a country of cobblestones. Steeped in hundreds of years of history, these stones come in every variety. There are weighty, oversized white rectangular stones, for example, shiny black stones the size of bricks, diminutive cube-like stones… the list goes on and on. But one thing they all have in common is how hard they are to walk on. And not just hard to walk on—the spaces between them will trap the heel of your shoe, to the point that I can’t even count the number of times they’ve trashed mine. If you’re going to pop an outfit with a chic heel in Italy, you’d better make sure you arrange a car to get you where you’re going and minimize the distance you have to walk.
The problem with Italian cobblestones is that they’ve laid the stones without grading the substrate, creating a highly uneven road surface. But that’s not all. They’ve also neglected to maintain them, creating travel hazards all over Italy. The stones will crack and cave in or pop out of their rows and fly out, leaving holes punched out everywhere. The situation is life-threatening for cyclists and bikers, and even cars bounce through the larger potholes, frequently warping their wheels. The stones themselves may be nearly indestructible, but the roads are subjected to high volumes of daily traffic and massive weather impacts, so they still have to be regularly maintained.
Speaking of cobblestone maintenance—the work involved is enough to make your head spin. Each and every stone has to be removed and labeled with a number, then the substrate work has to be done, and then all of the numbered stones have to be replaced one by one in their original positions once that’s finished. The same process has to be used not just for the large stones, but for the little cube-shaped ones as well. It’s the only way to faithfully reproduce the original pattern.
Milan is increasing its number of paved streets, but I hear they’re doing it with low-quality asphalt. Maybe that’s why when they just make repairs by pouring it into areas that have worn away to fill the holes, the asphalt roads get just as bumpy and uneven as the cobblestone ones. I’ve also heard that it’s common practice to leave the roadwork and asphalt paving to the company that offers the cheapest quote. No wonder it has to be immediately repaired.
Years ago, I was given a pair of rollerblades as a present, and was invited out to skate on the smoothest possible surface. Just when I was wondering where on earth that could be in a country with roads this bad, my friend told me simply: the best possible place to skate was right in the heart of Milan. Of course! There’s marble laid all over central Milan, it’s super smooth and easy to skate on, and the boutiques around there are all lit up and twinkling. It was a fresh and amazing experience that I hadn’t thought of at all. As the local Milanese and tourist crowds died down at night, I’d put on my rollerblades and skate the marble around the Milan Cathedral. I felt just like a little kid—like I was sneaking around having fun in a way that adults almost never experience.
