Original Joe's in San Francisco was the scene of lunch with my buddy, attorney Frank Passaglia.
Frank was born in Lucca, Italy, and came to this country at age ten with his family. He provided me with a proverb handed on to him by his 92-year-old father, a retired cabinet-maker. Frank has a beautiful wooden bookcase in his office, made by his dad.
Tutto il mondo e' paese.
Everywhere is your village.
"The whole world is (like) your village," or, turned around, "your village is (like) the whole world."
Either way, if you know your village, you know the world, and vice versa, because, essentially, people are the same all over, I'm sad to report.
Frank says his father acquired the expression from his father and thinks the saying may come down from the Romans. I think the world was old when the Romans got here. Maybe the earlier Etruscans, who didn't much like the Romans, said it because, well, the Romani were too much like the rest of il mondo. Lucchesi, Romani, whatsa difference.
There are things you can learn at Original Joe's, especially if you treat the bartender, John Harris, Professor of Mixology, with the respect he deserves. Dr. Harris is one of the best at concocting the soothing libation that lubricates the conversation. Do ask for the better vino, however.