I'm just doing something the English call "teasing". I'm from Victoria, so it's fun to me to think I live in Umbria now, and a central Italian I read regularly now lives so close to where I started out.
Penticton is beautiful; Tara's right about that. Though with the smoke this week, you do have reason to be sorry for me, teasing aside. What I like is the symmetry: you left Victoria for Umbria, I left central Italy for BC. We basically swapped places. No joke, I may move to the Island at some point due to this air issue.
Better air quality is definitely a bonus here on the Island. However government policy over the past 15 years has made it incredibly difficult for young people to find meaningful employment, not to mention how difficult it is to be self employed. That, and the cost of housing is astronomical. It’s always been tricky out here, but even more so recently. We all hope, and pray, air quality improves in the Okanagan Valley quickly.
Oh man... don't get me started on the housing prices in Victoria, and all the rest of the Island. I haven't tried to live there since 1993, and even back then it was prohibitive.
Thank you, Antonio. Our home is in Selinunte and I am always watching the air quality, which appears as mostly "red" on our weather map - but I had no idea how bad it was up north! Universally, our local friends scoff when I ask about the air quality. "how can it be bad when we are by the sea and have so much wind?" Alas.
Our other home is in Idaho, where we annually have fires and get socked in by smoke for a while. But what you're experiencing in Canada - mamma mia! I am so sorry - and very glad to hear you were able to get out of it for a while. Prayers for you, for Canada, for Italy, and the world as we deal with this new norm due to climate change. :/
The number is right and there is no point arguing with it. But underneath it there is a reading error that costs your readers something, so here is the view from inside. Milan's particulate is geography before it is guilt: the Po valley is a bowl with almost no wind, and that same still, damp air is the reason this is butter and rice country instead of oil and fish. The risotto, the cassoeula, the whole cuisine people come here to eat is a product of exactly the climate they are reading about in your table. Not an excuse, just a shared cause. The practical part, which no visitor suspects: outdoor tables here are not a summer thing. A dehors in Milan is a concession of public land, paid to the city by the square metre, so it is worth having twelve months a year, and people sit outside precisely in the months when the air is worst. If you want to give your readers a rule they can actually use instead of a ranking, it is this: in Milan eat outside in June and inside in January. That solves more of the problem than moving to Sardinia, and it costs them a city they would otherwise cross off the list for the wrong reason.
Geography definitely shapes air quality and many other aspects, including climate and cooking. But the ranking I provide is still useful for anyone considering a move to Italy. For two reasons:
1. In the large cities of the north, we're asking people to make a big financial commitment at very high real estate prices. They need to know they're signing up for some of the worst air in Europe. In Milan, they're also signing up for the highest levels of reported crime in Italy. Milan just is a weak relocation choice unless you need a local job, which is where it shines.
2. Indoor air is not immune to outside contamination. You're breathing a share of what's outside no matter what. Yes, avoid the patio in January, but the annual mean is the concern even if July's air is decent. And even if you create the perfect indoor environment with low levels of pollutants, you're asking people to pay premium prices to stay several months a year indoors.
The dehors economics are a good detail, and you're the right source for that, but they don't change annual exposure. Chronic exposure is the issue.
You live in *Penticton*???
I'm so sorry.
Penticton is beautiful. Why so sorry?
I'm just doing something the English call "teasing". I'm from Victoria, so it's fun to me to think I live in Umbria now, and a central Italian I read regularly now lives so close to where I started out.
Penticton is beautiful; Tara's right about that. Though with the smoke this week, you do have reason to be sorry for me, teasing aside. What I like is the symmetry: you left Victoria for Umbria, I left central Italy for BC. We basically swapped places. No joke, I may move to the Island at some point due to this air issue.
Better air quality is definitely a bonus here on the Island. However government policy over the past 15 years has made it incredibly difficult for young people to find meaningful employment, not to mention how difficult it is to be self employed. That, and the cost of housing is astronomical. It’s always been tricky out here, but even more so recently. We all hope, and pray, air quality improves in the Okanagan Valley quickly.
Oh man... don't get me started on the housing prices in Victoria, and all the rest of the Island. I haven't tried to live there since 1993, and even back then it was prohibitive.
weird comment. Maybe think before you type next time.
Stay safe!
Thank you, Antonio. Our home is in Selinunte and I am always watching the air quality, which appears as mostly "red" on our weather map - but I had no idea how bad it was up north! Universally, our local friends scoff when I ask about the air quality. "how can it be bad when we are by the sea and have so much wind?" Alas.
Our other home is in Idaho, where we annually have fires and get socked in by smoke for a while. But what you're experiencing in Canada - mamma mia! I am so sorry - and very glad to hear you were able to get out of it for a while. Prayers for you, for Canada, for Italy, and the world as we deal with this new norm due to climate change. :/
The number is right and there is no point arguing with it. But underneath it there is a reading error that costs your readers something, so here is the view from inside. Milan's particulate is geography before it is guilt: the Po valley is a bowl with almost no wind, and that same still, damp air is the reason this is butter and rice country instead of oil and fish. The risotto, the cassoeula, the whole cuisine people come here to eat is a product of exactly the climate they are reading about in your table. Not an excuse, just a shared cause. The practical part, which no visitor suspects: outdoor tables here are not a summer thing. A dehors in Milan is a concession of public land, paid to the city by the square metre, so it is worth having twelve months a year, and people sit outside precisely in the months when the air is worst. If you want to give your readers a rule they can actually use instead of a ranking, it is this: in Milan eat outside in June and inside in January. That solves more of the problem than moving to Sardinia, and it costs them a city they would otherwise cross off the list for the wrong reason.
Geography definitely shapes air quality and many other aspects, including climate and cooking. But the ranking I provide is still useful for anyone considering a move to Italy. For two reasons:
1. In the large cities of the north, we're asking people to make a big financial commitment at very high real estate prices. They need to know they're signing up for some of the worst air in Europe. In Milan, they're also signing up for the highest levels of reported crime in Italy. Milan just is a weak relocation choice unless you need a local job, which is where it shines.
2. Indoor air is not immune to outside contamination. You're breathing a share of what's outside no matter what. Yes, avoid the patio in January, but the annual mean is the concern even if July's air is decent. And even if you create the perfect indoor environment with low levels of pollutants, you're asking people to pay premium prices to stay several months a year indoors.
The dehors economics are a good detail, and you're the right source for that, but they don't change annual exposure. Chronic exposure is the issue.