Cafes across Naples recently marked “Suspended Coffee Day,” spotlighting a remarkable tradition of social solidarity in the crisis-hit Italian city that is now more needed than ever.
Using chalk board signs in cafes and by word of mouth, dozens of cafes have let the city’s growing army of poor — Neapolitans and immigrants alike — know they can come for a free coffee with money left by better-off customers.
The practice of “caffe sospeso” is simple: leave money for a coffee when you are getting one yourself and someone who cannot afford one gets it for free.
Photo: AFP
照片:法新社
“It is something you used to do when you passed a university exam, or won the lotto or had your birthday. Pay for a coffee for someone you didn’t know,” said Maurizio del Bufalo, a former UN aid worker and founder of the “Suspended Coffee Network,” which now includes 200 cafes in Naples and around the world.
“We want to re-launch this custom. Suspended coffee is a typical expression of the popular culture of Naples. It could only have come from here,” he said.
The custom became most widespread during the lean days after World War II, when the sprawling port city suffered a devastating social crisis.
(AFP)
那不勒斯各地咖啡店最近紀念了「待用咖啡日」,凸顯出這個面臨經濟危機的義大利城市仍保留了一項傑出的社會團結傳統,而現在正是社會最需要團結的時刻。
透過店外的黑板公告及口耳相傳,數十家咖啡店讓那不勒斯市人數愈來愈龐大的窮人,不分那不勒斯本地人和外來移民,都能夠知道他們可以進來喝一杯免費咖啡,這是由較有餘裕的其他顧客所預先支付的。
「待用咖啡」的作法很簡單:喝咖啡的時候同時留下另一杯咖啡的錢,原本喝不起咖啡的人就可以免費喝到咖啡。
「這原本是當你通過大學考試、贏了樂透或過生日時都會做的事。替陌生人付一杯咖啡錢,」前聯合國救援工作者、「待用咖啡網路」創辦人戴布法羅說,那不勒斯及全球各地現在共有兩百家咖啡店加入了這個網路。
他說:「我們想要重新發起這項習俗。待用咖啡是那不勒斯民間文化的典型表現。這項習俗只可能源自此處。」
這項習俗在二次大戰後的經濟困窘時期變得更為普及,當時這個往四面延伸發展的港市正遭逢毀滅性的社會危機。
(法新社/翻譯:俞智敏)
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