Odd, eh? What is it? Actually, it’s history. In the days before the IPhone – if you are a millennial, those were the Dark Ages – making a phone call required change – another Dark Age invention. In Italy, you could not even use coins. You had to buy these telephone coins. No gettone no call. And you could only buy them in certain stores, called tobacci, which also sold cigarettes, newspapers and candy. And long-distance calls?! You had to go to special telephone company businesses, place your call and wait until the connection was made – sometimes for an hour. Flashforward to today. Now Italians are ‘cashless.’ They pay their restaurant tabs over the phone, buy stock over the phone and travelers are hard pressed to find a computer parlor to ‘rent’ time. Today, this is just a ‘blast from the past.’
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