"...this patissier is an artist, and like all artists, a conservative. He tries to keep up the good old days when everybody made a game of bargaining- the days that Fodors wrote of when the tells you to 'keep a calm and pleasant demeanor, when haggling.' But that's all passing, I'm afraid. Between the EU regulations, and the efficient business of impressing tourists, the shops are becoming as dependable as Walmart, McDonalds or a Starbucks, and about as appealing. I think I'll go back and end my few declining years in Puglia. That's about the only part of Italy, now, that has not been toured and described and painted and guided to death; the only that has not been made safe for my aunt from Peoria..."
TW: Sounds like a typical lamentation of present day homogenization of the world. Except that the above was written in 1929, it is a passage from Sinclair Lewis' Dodsworth (with a little contemporizing by yours truly) where the protagonist was making his way through then present day Italy. The actual passage is below:
From Dodsworth:
"...this patissier is an artist, and like all artists, a conservative. He tries to keep up the good old days when everybody made a game of bargaining- the days that Baedeker wrote of when the tells you to 'keep a calm and pleasant demeanor, when haggling.' But that's all passing, I'm afraid. Between the regulations of the Fascists, and the efficient business of impressing tourists, the shops are becoming as dependable as Swan and Edgar's or a Woolworth's, and about as appealing. I think I'll go back and end my few declining years on Mulberry Street in Little Italy, in New York. That's about the only part of Italy, now, that has not been toured and described and painted and guided to death; the only that has not been made safe for the vicar's aunt .."
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