Waiting for WiFi: Italy’s digital divide

A general view shows a central square in Colle di Tora with workers (left) and a van from the optical fiber installation company in the medieval town some 80 kilometres north-east of Rome. For Italy, part of the challenge is to transform places like Colle di Tora, which are not so much cut off from the modern world, as a little behind. — AFP

COLLE DI TORA, Italy: The last time a customer tried to pay by card in Anna Rita Pani’s grocery store in Colle di Tora, a small town outside Rome, things got a bit awkward.

“We had to wait 15 minutes for the card reader to work... Meanwhile, we were just standing there, staring at each other,” she told AFP.