Tooled up in Reggio

Having last been on the Italian mainland in Livorno in May we returned to it at Reggio di Calabria, just south of the Straits of Messina as we began our journey north to Rome. I was expecting to see a dirt poor dump full of tower blocks and rusting cars. In fact the city centre is bustling and sophisticated, with smart seafront cafes overlooking Sicily and the Straits and the continual stream of ferries and container ships plying to and from the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas. However, in a back street cafe we did get a glimpse of a different Calabria. The place was full of young men with tattoos and at one table three were dressed in black with gold jewellery and shades. They had the uneasy and twitchy demeanour of serious drug users. At another table a smart casually dressed guy sat talking on his mobile phone, but appeared to be getting an unusual amount of “respect” from the waitress and the men in black. As we left the cafe Sue explained to me that the “respect” might have been something to do with the automatic pistol stuck in the back of his trousers which she had noticed as he reached into his car to grab something.