When it’s not absolutely sweltering, we throw open the windows here in the apartment, day and night. I’m not sure how other Italians manage, because they button up their homes every night tight as a drum. Shutters get closed every evening.
I had my doubts about closing the shutters at first, but now I can see the pros and con’s of it.
I’ve spent several early mornings awake pondering those specifics. I am awake because the windows were wide open, and the seagulls start up their morning racket every day at 4am.
The first time I heard them, I thought someone was being murdered on the street. There was awful, awful screaming. Bloodcurdling noises, actually. I went from window to window seeking the source of the ruckus, and discovered there were seagulls circling a huge tree in our neighbor’s yard at a furious pace, making those screams as they went. It’s their wake up call, it seems, because it is an every morning ritual. I wish they could find something a bit more quiet... an alarm clock perhaps!
I hadn’t heard it before because the windows had been closed all through winter and early spring. That explains it. The next day I tried closing the shutters when I went to bed, and I was not jolted out of my bed at 4am. I didn’t hear a thing. Hmmm--- maybe my Italian neighbors knew something I didn’t, and that’s why they are bolted shut every night.
So now the first item on my Pro list for keeping the windows shuttered every night is “Drown out the seagull nonsense”.
Unfortunately, the top of my Con list contains a much more compelling reason for keeping the windows wide open!
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