presents
Two Aperol Spritzes
I“I know what I'm talking about.”
“What do you know?”
“I'm telling you, give it ten years and everything will change in this piazza!”
“You mean the piazza we are in right now?”
“Precisely.”
“The piazza where we've been meeting every week for at least twenty years?”
“Exactly.”
“Lorenzo, how long do you want to drag this out for?”
“Please never call me Lorenzo. Call me Lori.”
“Please never call me Vittorio either. My name is Vitto.”
“We've been calling each other like that since high school anyway...”
“Those days, when I used to study and you used to cheat...”
“But let's talk about the future...”
“Exactly. Let's talk about what will happen in Piazza Mazzini in ten years' time...”
“First of all, I think they will change its name...”
“What do you mean?”
“It'll be named after some influencer, or one of those foreign singers.”
“I don't think so.”
“The patriots of the Risorgimento won't be that fashionable anymore...”
“Don't really think so...”
“And then the vertical buildings...”
“What's wrong with the vertical buildings?”
“Too tall. They make you dizzy.”
“I live on the seventh floor and it doesn't make me dizzy...”
“In ten years, architects will design cleaner skylines. They'll create horizontal horizons at last...”
“You think so?”
“What's with the tables at the bar now?”
“Well, in ten years' time they'll be ‘social' too. Why stay separate? Why isolate ourselves at our tables for two? They will start making tables for ten, twelve, twenty... to join together as many people as possible. Finally, social networks will move from the screens to real life. And it'll be easier to meet new people and make new friends...”
“This is by far the most interesting thing that you've babbled today...”
“Why? Didn't you like the others?”
“I don't really think you're very credible playing Nostradamus. But the idea of the enlarged tables doesn't sound too bad.
“And over time, the Spritz will be more and more in demand. Even in ten years, in Italy, in the world, and in the rest of the galaxy…”
“That doesn't take Nostradamus to predict.”
“You'll see. In Piazza Mazzini as well as in other piazzas, it'll be the most requested aperitivo, as usual. Speaking of which, since we're here, I'll ask for one: ‘Sir, can I have an Aperol Spritz, please?'”
“Coming right up!”
“Thank you. You see? It's easy to order, and it's fresh on the palate…”
“You speak like an advert. Were you paid by advertisers?”
“And in ten years' time I'll change friends, too. Especially those who accuse me of speaking like an advert…”
“Please stop it. What should I say after putting up with you since high school?”
“That if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have met Esmeralda, the love of your life.”
“This is true…”
“That name is very Notre Dame de Paris, one must admit…”
“A classic and eternal name, as I like them.”