Jobs In Ancient Italy
I’m taking this time away from work in part to think about what I want to do next; what I want to do, as well as, what I don’t want to do.
Actually, I’m not thinking about it very much. But I AM thinking about jobs I’d want (or not want) based on the guided tours we’re taking in Italy.
ANCIENT ITALIAN JOBS I MIGHT WANT:
Florentine painter with a Medici patron: for the pleasure of riffing on common painting tropes (Enunciation, Pieta, Myths) and being able to realize my own individual take on them.
Private Venetian Gondolier:
Because I’d have my own quarters in an opulent Rialto palace, use my body daily but not too intensely, and be able to hobnob with the fabulously wealthy while still being able to crack wise about them to my fellow gondoliers while they were inside at the opera. Plus the striped shirts and singing while you work.
Pigeon handler in Orvieto:
Raising pigeons in the honeycombed, multi-story caves under Orvieto for the romance and coolness of it and… the consistent access to good protein.
ANCIENT ITALIAN JOBS I'D DEFINITELY NOT WANT:
Volcanic rock miner in Orvieto:
Carving out rock with iron hand tools and pulverizing it to make mortar for the town above my head - dark, dusty, dirty, dangerous, and probably short lived.
Body ferryman in Venice during the bubonic plague:
The Black Plague killed 80,000 people in Venice over 18 months. Imagine.
JOBS I MIGHT (OR MIGHT NOT) HAVE WANTED:
Water boy in Etruscan wells in Orvieto:
Wells, 100s of meters deep, were dug to reach the water well below the rock Orvieto sat on. The wells have small (presumably slick) foot/handholds that someone had to climb down, fill up leather bags with water that others would then haul up. Seems like kind of a cool gig for a teen boy but perhaps risky.
Orvieto trash leaping smuggler:
Orvieto was plagued by smugglers who climbed heaps of trash alongside the walls, through pigeon coop cave windows, and then sold or stole wares in order to avoid papal taxes. Risky, fun...smelly.
Times have changed. Jobs have changed. But it’s always good to look back before looking forward.