Soldier Life in “ Sunny Italy ”

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 66, 21 March 1944, Page 5

Soldier Life in “ Sunny Italy ”

ENTERTAINMENT FOR SERVICEMEN ON LEAVE (N.Z.E.F. Official New* Service.) ITALY, March 15. Bari, the best known Italian city to New Zealanders, cannot compare with Dominion centres of the same importance, but the service organisations have done their host to provide amenities and comforts in the town. With an estimated population of 200,000 Bari occupies a total area approximately equivalent to that of New Plymouth. While the city has a modern side much

of it is old. Stone is used for almost all the buildings, including the bigstoried tenement blocks and rows of low houses joined together. Space is at a premium and most of the families look out from rear balconies over a communal backyard. Hundreds of shops are closed while those open have little to offer. Carpenters and small tradesmen are busy often on work for the Army, but merchandise is limited and of poor quality. Civilians are rationed to purchase food, but soldiers are forbidden. Only oranges and nuts can be bought. Some of the modern buildings are imposing structures particularly along the waterfront which is faced with an • elegant boulevard already showing signs of wear. Civilian transport is limited to trams and buses which are not comparable with those in .New Zealand. There arc many bicycles and carts and improved versions of the gharries which are a feature of Cairo. With more wet days than fine Bari is at present not keeping up the idea of “Sunny Italy.” A complete curfew from 9.30 and a full blackout restrict any night life. While the majority of the service personnel are American and British, the town is a meeting place for men of the Allied nations arriving by land, sea and air. Apart from the New Zealand Club there are a number of service, institutions including the Y.M.C.A., the R.A.F., the Fleet, the American Rea Cross, the Jewish Toe H and Naafi clubs, all doing important work. There are two main centres of amusement, one being the opera house taken over by the E.N.S.A. and the other being a theatre controlled by Americans. Admissions are free. Some of the several Italian theatres show* English and American pictures regularly, the prices ranging up to a shilling. Ensa provides pictures or revues, there being four screenings of films daily. Also recently two operas 4 * The Barber of Seville” and “La Traviata” have been produced by Italian artists and other well-known operas are being produced under American supervision. The opera house, which was built forty years ago and which has elaborate interior decoration, seats over 3000 while the American theatre accommodates 1000, half the seats being reserved for Americans. Sunday and midweek services are held. The Naafi has taken over the : spacious Yacht Club premises built out into the harobur, also a cafe run for sergeants as well as hotels for officers. As always the New Zealand Club pro- E vides good service for New Zealanders, f It is well organised and every effort is j being made to assist men on leave. r