When we were in Italy last week, we stayed in a colorful little beach town just north of Venice. Caorle is a charming resort town of 12,000 that rarely sees American visitors. Our hotel on the beach said they had only one other American couple all summer.

The town has a delightful little Old Town area with shopping and restaurants. At 12:30p each day most of the townsfolk take a “pausa pranzo” – a leisurely lunch break, lasting until 3:30p at most shops and boutiques. Offices close up, too. It’s said to be a deeply ingrained Italian custom, but we’ve never encountered it in any of the more touristy areas of Italy we’ve been to in the past.

It’s said to be different than the Hispanic custom of siesta, in that it is more about food and socializing, and less about taking a mid-day nap. Most restaurants stayed open in Caorle (other than gelato stands) and had lunchtime menus with paninis and little pizzas.

As inconvenient as it seems, the daily “reposo” makes sense for a lot of reasons. Small shops are able to help people in the morning, close for a few hours, and then stay open into the evening without having two shifts of employees. Workers get a relaxing break and time to meet up with friends, or take care of some personal business.

It’s easy to think of an extended “pausa pranzo” as an anachronism in the modern world, but when I worked downtown Minneapolis at my first MegaCorp in the 1990s, it was customary to take 90-minutes for lunch everyday. The extended lunch break was fantastic. People would head out of our office tower at 11:30a and return for meetings at 1p.

The long lunch break gave everyone time for a nice lunch, go for a quick walk, pick up a book at the library, or shop at the downtown farmers market. Many days you could do all of those stops on one day. There was even a small lounge on our 31st floor where I would sometimes catch a quick 20 minute nap. It was really a great break in the day.

Perhaps “pausa pronzo” also helps contribute to Italy’s outstanding life expectancy. They rank 11th in the world and are almost 5 years longer than the United States (83.2 versus 78.8). Along with their healthy Mediterranean diet, there’s likely something to be said for taking a nice lunch break.

My wife teased our Italian guide that she actually invented the idea of not working in the early afternoon and taking a nap. Early retirement affords us a “pausa pronzo” every day, even if the customer hasn’t caught on in the USA (yet!).

Have you encountered a “reposo” or “siesta” in your travels? Ever made it part of your own lifestyle?

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