Vacations were spent by the sea or in the mountains ; people listened to soothing operas like Puccini 's La Bohyme and Madame Butterfly ; the first silent-movies of The Last Days of Pompeii and Quo Vadis were made ; one could partake in intellectual conversations in open air caf ? ? s at the hour of the passeggiata .
Most vacations were spent on the mainland , far away from the sea , or in exotic countrysides .