A Wednesday afternoon in Varese

It was just another ordinary afternoon in Varese, the sun was hot, it was getting on to late afternoon and I was waiting on the family who were clothes shopping.

So as you do I wandered up and down one of the fashionable streets taking in the street musicians, the cafes, and the people eating ice cream.

The Corso Giacomo Matteotti is one of my favourite parts of the city.  Here you can find posh clothes outlets, elegant cafes and wonderful food shops ranging from the expensive bakery to ordinary fruit and veg shops a fishmonger and a butcher.

It is named after the socialist MP who denounced the fascists in the Italian Parliament for election bribery in 1924 and was murdered by them just 11 days later.

The area was once a monastery and little bits of it are still there hidden behind later buildings including two wonderful cloistered spots which  offer havens of peace off the busy thoroughfare.

And I kept coming across a group of men who just kept walking up and down, talking, stopping and then moving on.  I followed them  up the street and back down and then back again.

Every so often they looked as if they were about to part company but then they were drawn back together.

Perhaps for an hour and half I watched them before finally two walked off, but the others remained.

Location, Italy

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson