If I Could Turn Back Time

This weekend, Italians changed their clocks (well, many of them...mine are still all wrong). Around Rome, where the public clocks are right only twice a day, this event will have little bearing on our movements. In Milan, on the other hand, with Germanic timing, those clocks lining nearly every street at the stroke of 2 slip back to 1am.

But what really intrigues me about this event is what must transpire to get people (City of Rome excepted) to go on board with the whole rigamaroll. After all, they could, like the State of Arizona, just not do it. So, while in America, clock-turning is cheerily branded, 'Daylight Savings', Americans buy into the concept pretty handily...after all, who wouldn't want to save, and get the extra bonus feature of extra daylight?!! It's a 2-for-the-price-of-one special if I ever saw one.

In Italy, it's drearily called, 'Ora Legale' -- basically, stating, as most everything here,

"This is a Top-Down decision which you have no control over and since it must be this way, we're going to confer legality so any rogue provinces can't get away with doing without it. Got that? It's Legal. We mean it."

It's the daylight version of those ubiquitous 'VIETATO' signs which are stuck to nearly every single surface around...in an attempt to scare people into servility. My favorite?
The new "Welcome Passengers, enjoy your trip!" sign plastered in 8x10 humongous lettering at the entrance to Rome's Train Station. (I will remind you, it's almost entirely open air):