10712 Three Things I Love About Italy

My three, though there are many more,
The Italians (lucky really!)
The food and wine
The beautiful countryside, especially in my part of Marche.
A

1. My wife
2. My family
3. Passeggiata

I can immediately think of another 3,000 or so - but it would get boring for most people here...However, I will change point 3 every now and then...

.

In no particular order, my three are, the predictabllity of a warm summer, the people, the music, from Gesualdo to Vasco Rossi

1- Sun
2-moon
3-stars
because all 3 are brighter here and life is brill all day and all night
(now the squirrels are gone)

-The small independent shops that have not been steamrollered over in favour of the generic "high street" (British or American).
-The obsession with food
-The kind and helpful people
-The beauty -landscape, people, buildings etc etc etc etc (It's Monday; i can push the boat out a bit!)

The three things I love about Italy are:

1. That lunch isn't for wimps!
2. The people I've met
3. The wine.....

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Just three - that is hard

1. The pace of life (or lack of it)
2. Food and drink
3. The open friendliness of the people[/FONT]
[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]
:spinny: back for two weeks this Wednesday[/FONT]:v_SPIN:

Passion.
Pleasure.
Pasta

I agree with what others have written and would add...the Health Service, the low cost of rail travel
and the joys of walking in the countryside.

Well... I've just opened a bottle and it's 'di tappo', so I'll add

- having a cantina even in blocks of flats.

Just off there now to get another bottle.. :-)

The lack of 'ageism', and the rational joy shared by every observer watching a grandfather teaching his grand-niece how to foxtrot.

the people, the food and Calcio

1. Going through the tunnels and that first view of Colledimezzo in all its beauty up on the hill looking down on the Lake. It turns my heart every time .

2. The kindness of the people who have been incredible .

3. The food and drink. ahhhhhh . Anyone want to buy a house in Ireland??

I haven't been to Italy. But I love Italy because:
-i love the food/beverages
-structures/great places to visit
-one of the romantic place

The first two you can see ..................the third is I can go back to for another hour and spoon, until I have to start worry about work............Oh what a life !!!!!!!!!!!

1. Icecream
2. The lifestyle
3. Seeing children being children not mini adults

Hi all,
this is my first message :embarrassed: and I take the chance:
1. Pizza
2. Spaghetti
3. Milan

[quote=FrancyFra;102058]Hi all,
this is my first message :embarrassed: and I take the chance:
1. Pizza
2. Spaghetti
3. Milan[/quote]

Hi Francy
As long as there not
Pizza HUT
Spaghetti HOOPS
and Milan FC
I think you are OK.........Welcome .........

I've seen this thread for a while now, but still cannot wittle my list down to 3. Probably still around 50 reasons....I'll keep trying.

I've finally reduced my ist to just three...

1. "Family" is still of prime importance.
2. Sitting down to eat 'together' - [U]every day[/U]!
3. Open warmth/friendliness of local people.

I suppose I [I]could[/I] have whittled it down to just one...
"Family Values Rule - OK!"

After a struggle to come up with just three:
- the gentler pace of life
- an emphasis on family
- enjoyment of good food, vino, roads with some room on them, sense of community, fantastic countryside and time to have fun.
We did try to arrive at just three!

[quote=Carole B;102115]I've finally reduced my list to just three...

1. "Family" is still of prime importance.
2. Sitting down to eat 'together' - [U]every day[/U]!
3. Open warmth/friendliness of local people.

I suppose I [I]could[/I] have whittled it down to just one...
"Family Values Rule - OK!"[/quote]

I totally agree with you Carole B,
FAMILY has still great importance in Italy.
Even if it is becoming more and more difficult to build one's own family and some are falling into pieces, one data still remains: the willing of Italian people to find the perfect place to stay with the people they love.
Other traditions continue: the classical Sunday lunch with parents-in-laws, tidy up the whole home, after a hard time at word - what a lovely stress.. if your kids come making a hug around your neck!
Today is more easy to run a family because the two partners collaborate economically but also because there is an increasing number of men who helps in the kitchen.

I recently read a research that you may find interesting.. sorry, Italian only

[url=http://www.tuttoconsumatori.it/archivio/2008/10/il_pranzo_della.shtml]Tuttoconsumatori il portale del CNCU: Il pranzo della domenica: per gli italiani una tradizione che continua[/url]

Have a nice day.
Cristiana

[quote]By Cristiana: "....Today is more easy to run a family because the two partners collaborate economically but also because there is an increasing number of men who helps in the kitchen."[/quote]

Cristiana, this is [I]sooooo[/I] true. I can remember when [U]NO[/U] man lifted a finger in the house. Mind you, many still don't... But with both partners needing to work these days, it is really nice to see that some men [I]do[/I] understand that the wife/partner cannot continue as if she was at home all day!

In many households (though as Cristiana says - [U]not all[/U]) the man gets up and goes to work each day - [B]FULL STOP![/B] :yes:

The wife/partner on the other hand, gets up, gets breakfast,sees to the kids, takes them to school, goes to work. Finishes work, does some shopping on the way home, cleans the house (minimal on weekdays), cooks the evening meal, washes the dishes, helps the kids with homework, does a 'load' of washing and hangs it out....:swoon: [U]THEN[/U], if she's lucky, she might just get to see 15 mins of television before falling asleep! :SLEEP:

I'm sure that those of us who have the opportunity (and good fortune) to be able to integrate with an Italian family will understand how things have finally begun to improve in this area.

[quote=Carole B;102144]:swoon: [U]THEN[/U], if she's lucky, she might just get to see 15 mins of television before falling asleep! :SLEEP:
.[/quote]

A whole 15 minutes .............what about making a cake...............Kidding, kidding

[quote=Carole B;102144]

The wife/partner on the other hand, gets up, gets breakfast, sees to the kids, takes them to school, goes to work. Finishes work, does some shopping on the way home, cleans the house (minimal on weekdays), cooks the evening meal, washes the dishes, helps the kids with homework, does a 'load' of washing and hangs it out....:swoon: [/quote]
Superwomen eh?

My glittery red, blue and gold costume burst at the seams years ago. :bigergrin:

[quote=juliancoll;102147]Superwomen eh?

My glittery red, blue and gold costume burst at the seams years ago. :bigergrin:[/quote]
I didn't wait for that to happen to me.... [IMG]http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/kim544/smiley/smiley_shopping.gif[/IMG]

I made my OH wear his 'y fronts' [U]OVER[/U] his trousers right from the start!
[IMG]http://www.geocities.com/clarkanimations/icon_superman_mini.gif[/IMG]
:laughs:

For some of us "women from England" who have chosen to retire to rural Italy with husband or partner, (apart from the small kids, we have pets instead), daily life matches the Italian women Carole mentions....oh and we are manual workers and gardeners too!

Dont forget jam makers as well, I have just hauled myself back up the hill after picking olives for about 5hrs, but two of my Italian female neighbours, both over 70yrs old are still out there picking theirs, or are they just stuck up the trees!?.
A

You should be ashamed of yourself Angie!!! lol

Three things that I love about Italy..... more likely three million things, but here I go for the obvious:

The magnificent history and culture
The beautiful natural environment
The glorious food and wine

And every region, province, town, hamlet has plenty of this.....

Narrowing it down to my own tiny little bit of Italy:
The fireflies, that even come onto the terrace.
The bliss of being able to sit outside and hear no traffic noise.
The huge night sky with the brightest of stars and a castle gently illuminated on the hillside.
(Could go on and on before even moving out of the village)

To be able to pick lemons and prickly pears in your own garden.
On a recent trip to Italy with my young daughter (who has been everywhere), she said that she felt more at home in Italy than anywhere else in Europe because the Italians 'think like us', Brits or Welsh that is.
Could be right.

Just to annoy all those others here are three things I hate about Italy...
1,[SIZE="4"]Expats who moan about Italy[/SIZE]
2,[SIZE="4"]Expats who moan about Italy and its boring food[/SIZE]
3,[SIZE="4"]Expats who moan about Italy, its boring food and keep telling me how great England is.[/SIZE]
:yes:

[quote=il cacciatore;102414]Just to annoy all those others here are three things I hate about Italy...
1,[SIZE="4"]Expats who moan about Italy[/SIZE]
2,[SIZE="4"]Expats who moan about Italy and its boring food[/SIZE]
3,[SIZE="4"]Expats who moan about Italy, its boring food and keep telling me how great England is.[/SIZE]
:yes:[/quote]

There, there.... never mind - you'll find that your feeling of anger [I]will[/I] ease in time and things will all look rosy again for you on the Italian front! :wubclub:

But honest mister...I didn't mean it! [IMG]http://dvcreators.net/discuss/images/smilies/crying.gif[/IMG]

:bigergrin:

[quote=Carole B;102432]There, there.... never mind - you'll find that your feeling of anger [I]will[/I] ease in time and things will all look rosy again for you on the Italian front! :wubclub:

But honest mister...I didn't mean it! [IMG]http://dvcreators.net/discuss/images/smilies/crying.gif[/IMG]

:bigergrin:[/quote]

I'll be fair now. Three things I love about Italy...
I, Its People.
2, Its culture.
3, Its food.

But is there such a country as Italy? Are we not working on false assumptions here?
Or is Italy divided into not only North and South but also numerous diverse regions with their own history customs and peoples ?
How can we compare Naples with Milan or Venice with Bari ? Italy may have been unified on paper but in is it really one country in the minds of the Italian people?

Where did you get (Google?) that idea from? It's no different anywhere else in the World. Take the UK - can you really compare Middlesex with Cheshire or North Yorkshire? Italians are territorial and regional snobs - until it comes down to another country trying to distinguish/compare between the regions - then they all become united as "Italian".

If during the winter months, Forum members have time to read, then I urge them to read, perhaps, the best book written about Italy and it's varied history. It gave me a great deal to think about and although I ended up feeling sad that so little has been learnt since the 18th century I am now far better informed. The Force of Destiny A history of Italy since 1796 by Christopher Duggan. Penguin £12.99

North/South/East/West divide

Maybe a good idea for a new thread ?

Think I have my 3 favourite things about Italy - all around our olives/olive oil

1. The people, so kind and amazingly pragmatic. The manager of the olive mill who put us to the top of the pressing list so that we could, as stranieri (new comers), have our own oil for supper that same evening. 1b) Lovely Luigi, our immediate neighbour, who when we discovered that we had left one of our sacks of olives in the cantina, put it with his crop and will bring us the equivalent oil when it has been pressed.
(OH relieved as I have accepted full responsibility for 'left sack', was so busy trying to get a good photo of our crop that I completely forgot it)

2. The Culture, which still celebrates food and harvest. This is not just restricted to those that live in the countryside. All over Italy, from the best restaurants, to the local bar or even to the motorway service stations, good food at a reasonable price is expected and produced.

3. The resourcefulness and skills, often gained through generations of life-threatening hardship, which are still evident today. Ok, the builder, plumber etc. doesn't always come when they say but when they do the quality of work is good. And they always seem to be 'can do' and not ' I won't' types.

Pic. is of a beautiful olive picking basket I found here at La Torre. One piece of wood bent and then woven. Luigi,when he saw it, said it had been made by Oswaldo, now 86 and who is still working his orto (vegetable garden) in the next field.

the view from my kitchen of a medieval castle, built on roman foundations, with a dumped yellow car and two dumped caravans in the keep (oh and a pony to keep the grass short)..

pretending I've gone back in time and am a peasant who has to get those olives, plums, figs, apples picked and turned into some kind of produce..

having to decide, when we want a day out, whether it should be to wonderful cultural centres, the mountains, the beach, a nearby lake or to a new restaurant

I cannot think of 3 things,that one could singularly and solely lie only at the Feet of Italy and its people.
Be it food or wine the people themselves the scenery the history the art or the culture .

And lets not forget its darker side, the politics the bureaucracy and the Mafia.

But, more than anywhere i have come across, it just feels so right...

Hi Giovanni

I think the reason many of us have had trouble limiting ourselves to 3 things, is the complexity that is Italy. Some of my posts, and possibly others, may come across as 'rose-tinted' but after a few years here, the rose tint fades, reality kicks in, we work hard, cope with the burearacy and learn to live life anew. We may be sheltered to some extent by my/our lack of good language skills, lack of knowledge/history or just plain isolation but few us long term residents are unaware of the problems that Italy faces, along with most other countries in the developed world.

But, as you state 'it just feels so right....'

I wonder if a thread 'The three things I hate about Italy' was posted it would also produce an equally short list. Probably starting with your three - the politics, the bureaucracy and the Mafia.

But for me, again, Italy works because it still values the things closer to home, over which they have some control and gives them a level of protection in this world and the next- the family, their food and their faith.

Anyone reading these posts should remember the 'health warning' that posters are only giving their personal view and this cannot be generalised across Italy because of the regional, financial etc. differences between posters.

Just as I hate hearing the news from England on Radio 4 ...all doom and gloom, our savings and pensions sliding downwards. Here I hate reading in the local Umbria newspaper, about the corruption trial, (postponed till Feb), involving those many "onion skin" companies misappropriating the funds destined for the building of the Minimetro in Perugia .To Italian friends this is par for the course and they merely shrug. This is something I hate about Italy.

[quote=piedmont_phil;99785]Following a prompt in another thread (!) I thought I would start the ball roling with three personal reasons for loving Italy:

3. Ducati motorcycles (it was the start of my love afair with Italy)......[/quote]

This should be no.1!!
Have you still got one?? If so, I assume it's a desmosedici!!
Bit of a Guzzi fan myself [started with the 'Le Mans'] and about to buy a Stelvio.
Keep the shiny side up!

3 things that Robert has loved (well liked today) during his 5 hrs at the press.
He made new friends (his Italian is coming on)
He was helped automatically with unloading the olives into the hopper and with any other heavy lifting.....

2 old guys solved the problem of the wonkey taps on the oil vats, bit of twine and a spanner.
Returned home on a wet and windy and cold day saying he had a wonderful time, would have never had that "rosy" glow in the UK after another day at the office.
A