Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria

The waiting room of the radiology section of Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria a hospital in Florence is much like the waiting room of the radiology center of Cincinnati’s Christ Hospital. The walls are pale green with white ceilings, the floors are made of speckled green tile, and the chairs keep you uncomfortably close to the patient next to you. It’s quiet except for a weary looking nurse calling patients’ names. Even the people look the same - an old man dressed in a light blue plaid shirt with his daughter in too-tight pants looking like she’d rather be somewhere else, a young couple reading Glamour and Car and Driver magazines, and one thing group you wouldn’t expect, an entire family. The grandmother was playing with her grandson making baby noises and playing peak-a-boo. The grandfather next to her had dark receding hair speckled with gray and a big bushy mustache to match. He and his son got into a deep discussion in Italian that I would judge to be about business while the Albanian daughter-in-law struggled to contribute to the conversation and only managed the occasional “Mamma Mia!” Everyone else starred at them in annoyance for breaking the silence.