Italia
Bella Italia! Italy has Europe’s richest, craziest culture. If you take Italy on its own terms, you’ll experience a cultural keelhauling that actually feels good.
Some people, often with considerable effort, manage to hate this country. Italy bubbles with emotion, corruption, stray hairs, inflation, traffic jams, strikes, rallies, holidays, crowded squalor, and irate ranters shaking their fists at each other one minute and walking arm-in-arm the next. Have a talk with yourself before you cross the border. Promise yourself to relax and accept it all as a package deal.
After all, Italy is the cradle of European civilization—established by the Roman Empire and carried on by the Roman Catholic Church. As you explore Italy, you’ll stand face-to-face with some of the world’s most iconic images from this 2,000-year history: the Colosseum of Ancient Rome, the medieval Leaning Tower of Pisa, Michelangelo’s David and Botticelli’s Venus, the playful Baroque exuberance of the Trevi Fountain...and the Italian city that preserves this legacy in a state of elegant decay: Venice.
Beyond these famous sights, though, Italy offers Europe’s richest culture. Traditions still live within a country that is vibrant and fully modern. Go with an eye open to both the Italy of the past and of the present.
Italy is diverse, encompassing German-flavored Alps; Mediterranean beaches; sun-baked Sicily; romantic hill towns; the urban jungle of Naples; the business center of Milan; and the art-drenched cities of Venice, Florence, and Rome. The country is reasonably small and laced with freeways and train lines, so you’re never more than a day’s journey from any of these places. Each of Italy’s 20 regions has its own distinct character, whether it’s scenic Tuscany, busy Lombardy, chaotic Campania, or the place where it all mixes together—Lazio, home of the capital, Rome.
Many travelers discover that there are two Italys: The North is industrial, aggressive, and “time is money” in its outlook. The weather is temperate, and the people are more like Northern Europeans. The South is hot and sunny, crowded, poor, relaxed, farm-oriented, and traditional. Families here are very close-knit and usually live in the same house for many generations. Loyalties are to family, city, region, soccer team, and country—in that order. (For more on the two Italys, see “Rome vs. Milan: A Classic Squabble” on here.)
Economically, Italy has had its problems, but somehow things have always worked out. Today, Italy is the world’s eleventh-largest industrial power, and the fifth-largest in Europe. Ferraris, Fiats, Maseratis, and Lamborghinis are world-renowned (though they’re not really major exports). Tourism is big business—Italy is considered the world’s fifth-most-visited tourist destination.
Cronyism, which complicates my work, is an integral part of the economy. Much of Italy’s business is hidden in a large “black market” unreported to government officials. Labor unions are strong, strikes are frequent, and the country today is faced with pressure to compete globally.
While most Italians are nominally Catholic, the true dominant religion is life: motor scooters, soccer, fashion, girl-watching, boy-watching, good coffee, good wine, and il dolce far niente (the sweetness of doing nothing). The Italian character shows itself on the streets, in the maniacal yet skilled drivers and the classy dressers who star in the ritual evening stroll, or passeggiata.
Italians are more social and communal than most other Europeans. In small towns, everyone knows everyone. People get out of their apartments to socialize on the main square. Young women walk hand in hand, and young teenagers shove or punch each other playfully or hang all over each other.
Because they’re so outgoing and their language is so fun, Italians are a pleasure to communicate with. Be melodramatic and talk with your hands. Hear the melody; get into the flow. Italians want to connect, and they try harder than any other Europeans. Play with them. Even in non-touristy towns, where English is rare and Italian is the norm, showing a little warmth lets you hop right over the language barrier. If a local starts chattering at you in Italian, don’t resist. Go with it. You may find you understand more than you’d expect.
Like most Europeans (and Americans), Italians enjoy watching TV (game shows, sitcoms, etc.), going to movies (American films are almost always dubbed, not subtitled), and listening to their homegrown pop music. Though Italy is the birthplace of opera and much classical music, it’s not much more “cultured” today than America is.
Official Name: Repubblica Italiana (Italian Republic), or Italia for short.
Population: 61 million, comprised almost entirely of indigenous Italians who speak Italian (German and French are spoken in some Alpine regions) and are nominally Roman Catholic (80 percent).
Latitude and Longitude: 43°N and 12°E (similar to Oregon and Maine).
Area: 116,000 square miles, including the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and others.
Geography: Italy is shaped like a boot, 850 miles long and 150 miles wide, jutting into the central Mediterranean. (By comparison, Florida is 500 miles long.) The terrain is generally mountainous or hilly, with the Alps in the north and a north-south “spine” of the Apennine Mountains. The highest point is Mont Blanc (15,771 feet), on the border with France. Outside the Alps, the highest point on the peninsula is Corno Grande (9,554 feet). Italy has 5,000 miles of coastline. Major rivers include the Po (the longest at 400 miles), Arno, Adige, and Tiber. Italy has three active volcanoes: Vesuvius, Etna, and Stromboli.
Regions: Italy is divided into 20 regions (including Tuscany, Umbria, Veneto, and Lazio). Locally, there are some 8,200 “communes,” each with a community council and mayor.
Major Cities: Rome (the capital, 2.7 million), Milan (1.3 million), and Naples (1 million).
Economy: The Gross Domestic Product is $1.8 trillion; the GDP per capita is $29,600. About 74 percent of the economy consists of service jobs (especially tourism), 24 percent is industry (textiles, chemicals), and 2 percent is agriculture (fruit, vegetables, olives, wine, plus fishing). There are 12,500 miles of train lines (mostly government-run) and 4,300 miles of expressway (autostrada).
Government: Italy is a republic, with three branches of government. The chief executive is Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. The bicameral legislature is elected by (mostly) direct voting. Since World War II, the fragmented country has had 63 national governments.
Flag: Three vertical bands of green, white, and red.
Italian Inventions: Opera, cologne, thermometer, barometer, pizza, wireless telegraph, espresso machine, typewriter, batteries, nitroglycerin, yo-yos...and the ice-cream cone.
Museums: 3,800.
Average “Gio”: The average Italian is 43 years old, has 1.3 kids, and will live to the ripe old age of 82 (1 in 5 Italians is older than 65). Every day, he or she consumes two servings of pasta, a half-pound of bread, and two glasses of wine. Despite Italian cuisine, Gio isn’t fat—only 20 percent of Italians are considered obese.
Italian food, however, is a cut above. If America’s specialty is fast food, Italy’s is slow food: locally grown ingredients, in season, bought daily, prepared with love, and enjoyed in social circumstances with friends and family. Even in modern cities, big supermarkets are rare. Instead, people buy their bread from the baker and their meats from the butcher, enjoying a chance to catch up on gossip with the shopkeeper. Italians buy foods in season, celebrating the arrival of fresh artichokes in the spring and porcini mushrooms in the fall.
The three-hour meal is common. For many Italians, dinner is the evening’s entertainment. They eat in courses, lingering over each one. A typical meal might start with an antipasto plate of cold cuts and veggies. Next comes the pasta (primo), then the meat dish (secondo), then a salad. No meal is complete without dessert (Italian gelato is considered the best ice cream in the world), accompanied by coffee or a digestif.
Wine complements each course. Italy is the world’s number-one wine producer (just ahead of France). It’d be a shame to visit Italy without sampling the specialties from each region, whether it’s the famous Chianti from central Italy, a white Soave from the Veneto, Bardolinos from the North, or a Lacryma Christi from the South.
Italian “bars” are not taverns, but cafés...and social watering holes. In the morning, they serve coffee, orange juice, and croissants to workers on the go. At lunch, it’s sandwiches (panini) and mini-pizzas for university students. In the afternoon, housewives might drop in for an ice-cream bar. At night, men and women enjoy a glass of wine and watch TV while the kids play a video game in the corner.
Besides food, travelers enjoy sampling Italy’s other wares. While no longer a cheap country, Italy is still a hit with shoppers. Find glassware in Venice; gold, silver, leather, and prints in Florence; and high fashion in Rome and Milan.
Italians are obsessed with sports—though not American sports. Italian sports idols are soccer players (Francesco Totti, Antonio Cassano), skiers (Giorgio Rocca), and cyclists (Paolo Savoldelli). Motor racing—Formula 1/Grand Prix—is huge. And since many Italians grow up zipping through narrow streets on small Vespas, it’s little wonder that motorcycle racing (moto, led by Valentino Rossi) is a major sport here. A favorite participant sport is bocce, played casually at parks throughout Italy. The players take turns tossing small metal balls on a dirt court, aiming at a small wooden ball.
Italy’s undisputed number-one sport is soccer (called il calcio). Soccer fans (tifosi) are passionate. Star players are paid millions and treated like movie stars. Little kids everywhere grow up pretending to score the winning goal just like them. On big game nights, bars are packed with men crowded around TV sets. After a loss, they drown their sorrows. After a victory, fans celebrate by driving through the city streets honking horns and waving team flags. Many Italians place their national, regional, and personal pride on the backs of their athletes. It’s a cliché that remains true: In a Europe at peace, the soccer field is the battleground.
But even as Europe evolves, Italy remains a mix of old and new. Appreciate the extreme changes Italian society has gone through in just half a century: the “economic miracle” of the 1950s and 1960s, a wave of domestic terrorism (from the left and the right) in the 1970s and 1980s, stronger integration in the European Union in the 1990s, and the current economic downturn and debt crisis. Italian politics are a reckless pendulum that swings between right- and left-wing extremes. It seems that nobody holds office for very long, but it’s always possible to bounce back.
Italy, home of the Vatican, is still mostly Catholic...but not particularly devout. Most people would never think of renouncing their faith, but they don’t attend church regularly. They baptize their kids at the local church (there’s one every few blocks), but they hold modern opinions on social issues, often in conflict with strict Catholic dogma. Italy is now the land of legalized abortion, the lowest birth rate in Europe, nudity on TV, socialist politics, and a society whose common language is decidedly secular.
For Italians, it’s very important to exhibit a positive public persona—a concept called la bella figura. While some Americans don’t think twice about going to the supermarket in sweats, Italians dress well any time they leave the house—and they’d rather miss their bus than get all sweaty and mussed-up rushing to catch it. An elderly woman will do her hair and carefully put on makeup for her monthly doctor’s appointment, and no matter how hot it gets, Italian men wear long pants—never shorts (except at the beach). At a restaurant, few Italians would ask for tap water or request a “doggy bag” for uneaten food—which, to them, comes off as cheap. This thinking is partly a holdover from the very lean postwar years, when Italians were self-conscious about their poverty and wanted to put their best foot forward.
Some traditions thrive. Italian families and communities are still more close-knit than many others in the modern world. Many Italians, especially in rural regions and small towns, still follow the traditional siesta schedule (called reposo in Italy). At about 13:00, shops close and people go home for a three-hour break to have lunch, socialize with friends and family, and run errands. (While a few old-timers take a short nap in front of the TV, most Italians are quite busy during this time.) And on festival days, locals still dress up in medieval garb to paddle gondolas (Venice), race horses (Siena), battle over a bridge (Pisa), or play rugby or soccer (Florence). But these days, the traditional ways are carried on by choice. Italians are wary of the dangers of a fast-paced global lifestyle. Their history is long, and they’re secure in their place in the world.
Accept Italy as Italy. Zero in on the fine points. Don’t dwell on the problems. Savor your cappuccino, dangle your feet over a canal (if it smells, breathe through your mouth), and imagine what it was like centuries ago. Ramble through the rabble and rubble of Rome and mentally resurrect those ancient stones. Look into the famous sculpted eyes of Michelangelo’s David and understand Renaissance Man’s assertion of himself. Sit silently on a hilltop rooftop. Get chummy with the winds of the past. Write a poem over a glass of local wine in a sun-splashed, wave-dashed Riviera village. If you fall off your moral horse, call it a cultural experience. Italy is for romantics.
