When McDonald's began to open in Italian cities, the Slow Food movement started promoting traditional Italian meals that lasted for hours. Slow Food was designed to oppose fast food and its values of homogeneity, impersonality, and haste. Based on the success of the Slow Food movement, some cities in Italy, including the city of Greve, started the Slow City movement. A slow city is committed to preserving its architectural heritage, typical dishes, and inherited customs. Greve's mayor, Paulo Saturnini, founded the International Network of Slow Cities.

But as The New York Times reported there's been a backlash to the slow city movement in Greve—the city has become so busy that many people don't have time to slow down. "'Everyone's running,' complained Mr. Saturnini's assistant, taking time to show a visitor around, since the mayor's calendar was full. In other words, becoming a slow city has led to an influx of tourists who now crowd the cafes, and the city has no time to slow down!" Hence the title of The New York Times article—"Sometimes Slowing Down Can Really Get Hectic."

"[The city has] developed," one of the town's business leaders added. "But it has lost that aspect of genuineness."

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Hypocrisy; Integrity—It's always hard to practice what you preach. In this instance, a model slow city couldn't slow down enough to enjoy slowness. (2) Busyness; Stress; Sabbath; Rest—Such is the frenetic pace of life in our age: even an intentionally "Slow City" can't figure out how to slow down in order to enjoy Sabbath and rest.