La Bella Figura

Ugg. The laundry has piled up over my busy week and today I am plowing through. Seems simple I know, but this is Italy so of course it is complicated. The washing machine takes an average of 2 hours to wash.

You read that right.

Two hours.

120 minutes per load.

Here's proof.

And each load only holds 3 of our big fluffy towels and maybe a sock or two.

Now, there is a "rapid" selection and if I select this and wash on cold, it only takes 51 minutes. I'm just not sure how clean the clothes are getting on this setting but I use it in a pinch. Like today.

We have a big American dryer that is vented out a window and works beautifully. Unfortunately, it takes almost all the electricity in the house, so when it is on, nothing else can be on or the electricity in the whole house will turn off. So when the dryer is running, that means no oven, no dishwasher, no tv, not even my hair dryer. Just about every time I use the dryer I have to reset all the clocks in the house. Seriously, it is like we are living in the middle ages.

Most Italians do not have dryers so they line dry their clothes which also means everything (even t-shirts) must be ironed. Yet, they are always perfectly groomed, styled and looking fabulous. They even have a saying for this. . . la bella figura. It loosely translates to "the beautiful image" and means that they strive to look and act their best in every situation. I literally mean EVERY situation. . . from early morning school dropoff to evening apertivo, they put their best (high-heeled) foot forward always, despite the 2 hour washing cycle and having to iron underwear.

Think about that next time you are dropping your kids off at school wearing something that resembles pajamas :-)