Latina, Italy. Color me Unimpressed (mostly)

Now, let me start out by saying that I am very blessed to be living in Europe and fulfilling a lifelong dream. I do not want to complain about the gift that my husband and the US Army have bestowed upon me. However.....
I understand that not all places in Europe are going to be lovely, wonderful and live up to my expectations/delusions of what European cities are suppose to be like. The first one though, to tarnish my sparkly, optimistic shades is Latina, Italy. Ugh. What an ugly place.
We were there for a week with my husband while he attended class/training. Everyone has told us that we need to take every opportunity to travel, and with the TDY trips, take the family. The sponsor's part it paid for, and the remaining portion is small enough, you can't just not go. So, when we found out that not only was he going to class near my birthday, but it was going to be to Italy, I absolutely could not wait to get there. I have dreamed of Italy since I was in Kindergarten and my Uncle's family was stationed there, the whole reason for my lifelong dream!
Well, he was not stationed in Latina. Latina is a town that Mussolini founded in 1932, dug out a swamp to build this town. It sits at the base of some low mountains, so it was probably beautiful when it started. Mussolini wanted this to be a "modern city," so it has square blocks and "wide streets." It's close to the coast, the weather is gorgeous. It is not 1932, and we know that things didn't really end well for Mussolini. Things aren't going well for this town.
The train from Rome runs to Latina, the outskirts of Latina, 10km away from Latina. They do appear to have a good bus system, but we didn't need to ride it this time around. The streets were filthy on the hair-raising trip to the hotel. Garbage on the road into town, and garbage on the city streets and vandalism everywhere. About the only building that wasn't covered in spray paint was our hotel and I think that's because of two things. Security cameras and hardworking cleaning/maintenance staff. The building had security cameras everywhere and was very well lit at night.
There were several little parks, grassy areas that the Italian word for just slipped my brain. Many of them had benches, statues or fountains. They were also full of garbage and dog poo. Many people have dogs in Europe as a whole, Italy was no different. Perhaps I haven't noticed it in other cities, but in Latina, no one cleaned up after their dog. In one 20 minute trip to "the fountain park" as my son called it, we saw two different doggie bombs being planted right in the park. Of course, the owners saw it happen. Who doesn't watch their dog poo when they're out for a walk? Odd, but you know it's true. My three year old knows it's gross to leave the poo on the ground where other people can step in it. Good thing that the owners didn't speak English because my loud American kid was telling them how gross it was and that it needed to be cleaned up. After our "rocket" almost landed in a pile, we decided to head back to the hotel.
OK, all that being said, the people that we did interact with, were so friendly and helpful. Many don't know English, though more Italians seem to speak it or try to than Belgians or the French do. The wait staff and cleaning staff at our hotel were fantastic. The women in the "wellness spa" were in love with my son. Many strangers, particularly the seasoned citizens, were quite in love with my son and stopped to talk to him, or ruffle his hair or smile at him and try to get him to smile back. 
Now, how different is this than in the States?!? Latina did seem to be very short on children, really short on children actually. We never did see a school, other than the University, and we looked. We saw one playground on the outside of town, but never a school. Italy does have an aging population, but it was so heartwarming to have strangers come up and smile at my child. We are use to getting scowled at because he is a loud, whiny, strong-willed American boy. In Italy, people who would be scowlers in Belgium or the States were very taken with him. I loved that.
My son was having some ear problems when we were there also. After getting some help from the front desk, the waitress, who loved my son, gave him chocolate cookies at breakfast, sent us to the pharmacy for help. The pharmacies are often owned by doctors that can help. We had a great experience at the pharmacy. They were very helpful and the many people working there were worried about his ears and our impending flight home.
That same waitress helped us find the laundromat. The front desk didn't know much about the lay of the land in Latina. My assumption has to be that none of them live in Latina, because of all the people who worked at our hotel, the front desk crew knew the least and were the least friendly.
So, here's the gist Latina, in my opinion (gotta throw that in there, really it's my blog, isn't this all my opinion) The town itself is yuck. Absolutely, not the gem of Western Italy and I probably won't go back the next time my husband goes. The people of Latina are wonderful, except for the lazy dog owners. However, that seems to be cultural, along with scraping poo from your shoe, so I can't hold that against them. Really, the people were great. If for no other reason than they loved my obnoxious toddler.
Ok, we may go back in the summer so we can swim in the Mediterranean Sea.
10/23/11