An Explanation of an Italian Phenomenon: La fila

Okay, so I know Italians and Americans are very different. Americans are orderly, hard working, and enjoy personal space. Italians are a disorganized, lazy, and can't unclasp hands for even a second to let you by on your bike. I have totally gotten used to how Italians work during my time in Italy. I actually appreciate how less stressed they are than Americans and how much they enjoy life. Even though I try to pretend I'm Italian and speak to tourists in Italian so they won't know I'm an American, there is one thing I will never accept and never be able to implement in my life: not being able to wait in a line.
Italians are incapable of waiting in a line. It's just a fact of life. If you want a perfect example, watch Bruno Bozzetto's youtube video about the difference between Italians and everyone else in the EU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHWBL9_alKs. My patience with the forming of "file" has been tested a lot lately. For example, when Megan, Matteo and I were in Viareggio for Carnevale, we spent almost 45 minutes trying to buy a train ticket home because instead of forming a line and groups buying their tickets as a group, the Italians just formed one big clump, cut people in line, and every single person bought their own ticket, even if there were 10 of them in a group. The worst I have experienced in a while was this past week when I tried to see Roberto Saviano, the author of Gomorra, the book that the movie I wrote my thesis on was based.
Saviano has recently published a new book based on this TV special that he and Fabio Fazzi hosted this past fall called Vieni via con me. When I was on my way home from the train station one day I saw the book and went in and bought it the next day. The woman at the Feltrinelli told me that Saviano was actually going to be giving a short presentation at the store on Wednesday, and I about wet my pants in nerdy excitement. I prepared myself to meet Saviano, who I just think is too cool for words, since he pretty much outed the workings of the Camorra and is now in the Italian version of the witness protection program. The woman told me to get to the bookstore early, so I counted down the days until I would get to meet the man in person.
Wednesday came and there were a few things not in my favor: 1) My landlord was coming by to pick up the rent that evening at 7:30, and the talk was at 9 2) Florence was all abuzz for "notte tricolore" the special events going on all night in honor of Italy's 150th anniversary as a unified country. So I made it to the Feltrinelli by 8 that night, and much to my horror, there were police everywhere and about a crowd of 2000 people already at the bookstore. I thought there still might be hope, so I joined the fila and waited patiently to see if I would make it inside the store. At 9, the talk still hadn't started, the line had not moved, and I was getting restless. I was not giving up on seeing Saviano though. So when the line finally started moving, I realized there was no way I was getting in the store. I did actually make it into a baracaded area with a jumbo screen where the talk was televised for all of us schmucks that didn't get there at 5 AM (when some woman told me people had started arriving). I stood outside in the cold with about 500 other Italians they let into the small space and enjoyed listening to Saviano's message about why life is worth living. After the talk, we were told that if we waited in line, we would be able to go inside and get Saviano's autograph. I pushed my way to the front of the clump, book in hand, and patiently waited for the next 3.5 hours.
If this had been an American event, there would have been people with little clicky-counters, and when one person left the bookstore, one person in line could go in. Since we were in Italy though, the guards had no idea how many people they had actually let in, and decided to let all the peopl inside get out, then let us in. Since the people inside where Italians, they took their sweet time, perusing the store for hours after they had actually met Saviano, and no one made them leave. I watched one man seriously pick up almost every book in the store, and not buy anything! After waiting forever, and people starting chants and the clump pushing in tighter and tighter, Saviano came out for 1 minute, waived, and then the guards told us all to leave. I was so incredibly frustrated and just huffed off. It just confirmed my stereotype that Italians cannot organize an event that goes smoothly to save their lives. I will say, I am lucky that I even got to see Saviano, if only from a distance, but for once I wish Italians could just form a line and do things in an orderly fashion.