Literally translated, il rientro simply means ‘the re-entry’ or ‘the return’ and the word can be used to talk about the end of any holiday period and the return to school and work. Just like the long summer holidays, il rientro is part of the cyclical nature of public life in Italy: a rhythm which may seem entirely normal and unremarkable to a lot of Italians, but which many of Italy’s foreign residents notice and say they quickly came to appreciate, whether they themselves get to take a summer holiday or not. Some people find this time of year a little melancholy, particularly when it comes to il controesodo, the mass return of Italian families from their summer holiday destinations around the end of August.