Road Work – the Old Way
One of the reasons Rosanne and I love Parma is that traditions affect almost every endeavor in life. Here is a picture of the “road work” on the street in front of our apartment. Can you imagine any place in America where a PUBLIC street would be constructed like this? Oh, it’s such a blessing (sometimes, like in this picture).
Wow, this is beautiful! Though there are more modern ways to lay a brick street, nothing compares to the artistry of doing it one brick at a time, by hand. In the US, a grant may be obtained to spend million$ on a project of this type, but those who are willing to learn how to do it the old way, are rare. Several years ago, we were fortunate to save our brick streets and found a local person to oversee our project, at a fraction of what our state department of transportation quoted. I wonder if the locals in Parma complain about the “inconvenience” of this project?
Hi Gayle,
Are you the Gayle that started a group on MeWe? I don’t usually touch social media but I looked at MeWe and thought maybe it would be alright. I guess my request is waiting for the administrator to approve me? Don’t know how else to contact you :-0
Beautiful. It reminds me of some of the streets in Vallarta, only they use cobble stones instead of the smoother brick pavers. The pavers are so much easier to ride or walk on…especially if one is wearing high heels. The Italians have mastered the art, for sure.
I’m so glad you and Rosanne are enjoying your new life in Italy. What a blessing!!
We experienced this in Amsterdam as well. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, Europeans have the long view…. I lived in Germany for 10 years and they pave all smaller, inner city and neighborhood streets this way, even in new housing areas. It may take longer to make a street this way initially, however, there are rarely any pot hole problems and the major advantage is that when they need to open the street to access pipes or repair things, they can just open the needed area and then place the same bricks back in. It saves on the big machinery and all the mess with stinky black asphalt and such. They put in different colored bricks for pedestrian paths, bike paths and for cars. Then everyone knows which lane is ‘safe’ to be in…sorta….. woe to any pedestrian meandering in a bike lane :-0 !! Thanks for sharing the picture, a trip down memory lane.