That is what I was referring to, the ancient and not so ancient but long since past "villages" were an extended family.

I grew up with half of each year in Italy and half in California. I remember one day I was on my Great Grandmas third floor terrace in Italy. It overlooked the Piazza of our small neighborhood. I was five- I remember because in the fall I was to begin American Kindergarten.

It was after lunch and in Italy most everyone would nap. Businesses would close, employees go home and rest.

There was very little movement on this hot day. I seemed to be the only one awake. As I stood there, a boy came into view. He put his face against a window with his hands cupped to block the sunlight and peered in. He went to the next house, and the next, peering into the windows.

Suddenly a little old lady erupted from a house across the way. She began beating the boy with her purse while screaming Italian obscenities. After she determined he'd had enough she grabbed his ear and drug him down the cobblestone path, disappearing around a corner and out of sight to deliver him to his parents I presume.

Even at my young age, I thought to myself this would never happen in America. I realized no one even knew their neighbors in the US, and more than likely someone would call the police as first line of defense.