Observations on traveling or living in Italy – behaving and misbehaving…

September 21, 10:36 AMItalian Living ExaminerSerenella Leoni

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It is Sunday morning and, as I relax, read the Sunday columns and make myself an espresso, my mind wanders off to Sundays in Italy where you wake up to the sound of tolling church bells, the aromatic smell of freshly-roasted coffee and the anticipation of a day filled with beauty, discovery, great wine and even better food.
So I continue my observations on life in Italy with much affection and tanta nostalgia (homesickness)!

•  You are shopping and gratified to learn that good wine is the one thing still offered at bargain prices
•  You’ve rented that hot, fast sports car you’ve always wanted to try and are going at ”top speed” on the autostrada (toll way), only to have one person riding your bumper and flashing their lights behind you as another driver cruises by you in the other lane
•  Standing in line “fare la coda” is just a phrase, not a real concept anyone follows
•  You are learning that you actually enjoy a 3-hour-lunch and hours of walking -who knew?
•  You have figured out how to take a shower in the bathtub with a hand-held shower head without spraying everything in the bathroom
•  You’ve seen a full gourmet dinner of 5 courses magically emerge from a kitchen the size of a broom closet
•  You are about to enter the thousandth, new-fad traffic roundabout. You think you know the rules on the right-of-way until you see what other drivers are doing. Finally, you decide to go with the natives as you close your eyes, press on the accelerator and pray…
•  After your initial shock at their bad behavior, you’ve come to the conclusion that Italian children are the most coddled, most fashionably dressed and most-spoiled children anywhere. This applies to some adults as well!
•  You get home and immediately change into “housework clothes or smocks”
•  You iron everything, including your underwear, so you can look impeccable when you go out
•  You have forgotten why you used a microwave
•  Your new friends are your local grocer, butcher, fruits/vegetable seller and news vendor. You know everything about their health histories and their families

And finally, a comment sent in by a reader who has fallen under the spell of Italy:

•  You know you are in Italy when you find pink grapefruit gelato on a really hot day and experience the great delight of eating the dripping confection on a street corner and feeling like you have discovered one of life’s great truths