|
Photos
& story by Harald Zoschke
Southern Italy. Bright
sunshine. A mild sea breeze. Chile peppers are drying in the air here. So do
linen, underwear and work outfits. As the place in the sun is scarce, potent
pods have to share space with cleaned clothing. Watch the excitement of chiles
caught in the act of mingling with sheets and shirts.
|
|
 |
Real
chileheads appreciate if their underwear
sports the fragrance of sunripened peppers.
In
the U.S. and Mexico, the strung-up pods
are called ristra.
In Italy, the name is fila.
|
|
|
|
|
You're
a real chilehead if you leave scorch marks on the pillow -- AND on the
sheet! That's why the sheets need frequent trips to the washing
machine. Drying
of course takes place right next to the cause of the burn. We
were puzzled by the mural right next to the balcony, though. |
|
Chileheads
are particularly clean people. So it's no wonder to see the dust
buster hanging within reach to keep those ristras neat and tidy. Also
helpful in case of a chile powder spill.
The
owners of the balcony below seem to be a little excentric, as you
can tell by the way they hung their ristras left and right of the
sheets. Also, the placement pattern is quite unusual....
|
|
Work wear needs to
be as clean as a whistle, like these baker pants here. More delicate pieces,
possibly from Giulios Secret, are discretely underneath an unobtrusive red sheet.
These
two flats are obviously inhabited by workmates, as red shirts are dangling from
both balconies. Both have the same ristras, too. Twins, maybe?
|
|
A
two-layer paint job coudn't hurt on these walls here, but the sheets
are ultra-white for sure. Also,
this balcony earns bonus points for the curtains mounted from outside,
allowing for quick access to the chiles. |
|
Shirt
and socks seem to belong to a chile pepper impersonator - red and green!
Or maybe he/she just wants to adapt to the pods. |
|
|
 |
Not
too stylish are the canopies on these two
balconies -- the brown color is clashing with
the red peperoncini, as chiles are called in Italy.
|
Another
faux pas -- the chiles on the right picture are too far away from the shirts to
add their fragrance to them. On the left picture, we see a balcony that's
elegant from above, but crumbling underneath.
|
If
walls are crumbling that has to happen in style. In the setup to the
right, the disintegrating wall fits the overall appearance, resulting in a
coherent appearance. Here we can even tolerate that no clothing is hanging
outside.
|
 |
|
 |
On
this chile lover's balcony, the lack of laundry was compensated by
decorative potted plants. Bonus
points for the bird cage on the wall (no bird flu though, as the cage
was closed.) |
|
 |
In
the absence of a balcony, creative minds
think up ways to gain drying space outside the
window. True chilehead spirit!
|
|
Traditional
drying methods and high tech don't have to exclude each other, as
demonstrated on the balcony to the right. The chiles may even aid in
receiving a sharper image.
|
 |
|
|
Quick,
which tenant of this house doesn't
like to do laundry and is no chilehead? And
one more, see below: One
tenant loves laundry, the other one loves chiles.
With which person would you like to live for the rest
of your life? (I
know, that's a tough one) |
|
Ah,
fresh ristras. To keep the pods that are still moist from crinkling,
someone installed a sunroof. Very thougfhtful.
|
|
Peaceful coexistance...
 
|
Colored
ribbons tied to the neighbors -- nice touch, and possibly helpful for
swapping chilies.
|
|
The
last two balconies are just classy. A clean shirt and tasty peppers - don't need
much more!
Hope
you enjoyed our pepperazzi's secret peeks at Southern Italy's multipurpose
balconies.
To
find out how you can dry peppers and even build your own ristras, check out our
story:
From Pods to Powder: Drying Chiles
|
