3671 What's your best Italia moment?

Moment of embarrasment - well that would be a very recent event - dinner on Friday night at Il Pescatore. We could not interpret the menu but managed to order lovely starters - encouraged by this we then ordered our main course - insalata al mare or some such thing and an arrosto something or other.

What we got was not what we thought we had ordered - I was lucky with the arrosto - the fish and shellfish was merely roasted or grilled and was easy to work away at. My sister however got a plate full of deepfried fish and shellfish complete with heads and beady eyes attached. After the initial moment of shock and amusement had passed it turned out that most of the fish tasted good, but there were some awkward moments.

At the same restaurant, as it was very late we did not want to drink so ordered orange juice - what we got was fanta (of course). The waiter I think was not impressed with us for ordering soft drinks and plonked the bottle of fanta on the table with a certain amount of huffiness.

It was a funny experience for us and it seemed that we were rather interesting to the other diners in the restuarant that evening - but then it was a quiet night...

Excellent thread elainecraig. Give us your best Italian moments and then we can have a vote on a top 5 with the winner getting an Italy Mag t-shirt. Go on... you know you've been dying to share "that" story!

Our best will be hard to choose; there seem so many.
One that sticks in our mind was two years ago when we took some friends of ours to Italy; they were Italy virgins & so had guide books, maps etc... and a "top 10 of Tuscany" book that they wanted to 'tick off'.
One of these was a visit to Siena & we duely turned up bright & early & heard drums & trumpets......"Great a concert", we thought.
We had, in fact turned up on one of the contrade parade days (excuse me elefante, I'm ignorant of the pagentry, so forgive me!) and enjoyed a parade of flag 'tossers' as they entered their local church. It was wonderful to have such an priviledged view of the celebrations & it didn't feel tacky, touristy or fabricated.
We left feeling pretty pleased that we'd witnessed 'a bit of local colour' & then happened upon another parade; then another, then a traffic jam of parades.
Again, a delightful day in Siena would have been enough, but to be witness to these events was a real delight & one of our frequent talking points..... the photos don't do the occasion or feelings we experienced justice, but are a wonderful reminder of the day.

......Kim seemed to think that lithe young gents in tights was something special too, but I can't see it really(!)

PS, we managed to tick off 9 out of the 10 Top Tuscany Tips in the week, so our friends were very pleased......they return to Lunigiana this year on their honeymoon :D

Its not a best moment, but back in 2002 we were traveling home from southern ITALY and time was on our side,So we decided to pop into san
marino,as on our last visit[1995] it had rained.

Yep same thing happened again, only much much worse, we took cover in the shops,as did everyone else,and tried to wined our way down to the carpark,darting in and out of cover.but the rain was so heavy that it really did
form a small river running down the streets. worse still were the lightning strikes which were happening all around us, thats when i noticed the earthstraps on most of the buildings! infact the building next to us took a strike. We finally made a dash for the carpark, but not before we had been trapped for well over an hour on the streets.
totally drenched we had to open a suitcase and but the car heater on to help us dry, even though it was very warm outside...........still waiting to see
san marino on a nice day....

Nice one, tuscanhills... I can see Kim's point! :D

Hmmmm one embarrassing moment happened when we were in Rome in February, doing the usual sightseeing you tend to do on a first visit. With me being at pains to be polite to all & sundry - and forcing my humble Italian skills on the unexpecting, I managed to overlook one clearly upset employee ... :o

Coming down the Spanish Steps after a leisurely half hour of people watching, we decided to nip into the public toilets (hidden in a roadwork site) neaby before slowly walking back to our hotel. Chatting away on the steps down and entering an open square corridor, we spotted our respective signs on doors on the left hand side - completely overlooking a tiny office ahead of us.

We had our hands on the doors when suddenly there was an outburst of Italian temper behind us... "buon giorno.. buon giorno ... [B][I]buon giorno[/I][/B]!" shouted a very irate-looking guy emerging from the office! We hadn't seen him hidden in there at all and thus not said our own "buon giornos". It took a bit of staring at each other (with him shouting!) before I realised that he didn't want any cash but was just annoyed at being overlooked by tourists... or perhaps loves playing up to shock them... :D Clearly worked with us lol...

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]It was 10pm one night in May,we'd driven down from Milan (after a flight from Stanstead) to a place we were renting near Arezzo.After stuffing herself at the Autogrill in Bologna my darling daugher threw up all over the front seat!We did our best to clean up in the dark and wound down all the windows.

After following a twisting road from Florence we eventually arrived at the place and tried to follow the directions.Unluckily for us the signs had been removed and we were totally lost.Almost prepared to spend the night in the car,smells and all, we were surprised when I small figure showed up in the headlights gesticulating ! I managed through a lot of hand signals and one or two words of Italian ask him where the farm was we were staying.All of a sudden he ran around to the passenger door and jumped in (yes you guessed what he sat in) He didnt seem to notice the smell but just shouted what I thought was 'dante' over and over.Of course I now know that he was speaking in some dialect saying avanti.

Much to our relief after sometime of this we arrived and were met by the worried owners who'd expected us hours ago.They offered him a ride back to his house and we thanked him profusely.Hope they didn't notice the smell!

Becky [/SIZE][/FONT]

My best moments in Italy is every time we land there and exit the plane, I always feel quite emotional...... Its like coming home.:)

When we drove to Italy at this particular time driving through a busy Rimini resort, there was this very old lady, she must have been 80ish, and she was dressed all in black, typical Italian, with her she had a young boy, they were holding hands, we stopped to allow people to cross the road, well this old lady made a gesture to the young boy to look at us, and then she threw her hands up in the air, and screamed out FERRARI, FERRARI,:eek: and then started to blow kisses at the car, I was amazed how the lady had reacted, but the look on her face was priceless, and her passion for the car........ thats what I love about Italy :) that also was a great moment.

Ferrari? I always knew you were a bit of a dark horse! :D :D

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]If I was a cynic I'd say you only posted this to let us know you had a Ferrari!!! I wont mention the car I was driving but needless to say it didnt make old ladies weep.

Becky[/SIZE][/FONT]

Oh, I don't know Becky! I remember being on an "old car" rally one day with lots of exotica, and a restored Ford Cortina......sad but true.......now guess which was the most applauded car? Yes, every spectator of a certain age could remember early trysts in the back of the Cortina, so it brought back happy memories!!

A very nice experience of Venice in Feb '05 occurred on our last full day there. After we had arrived in a snowstorm, the weather turned the next day & by the 4th day was warm & sunny...

We managed to get an outside table at a restaurant around the corner from Piazza San Marco, over the bridge from which you can see the Ponte dei Sospiri.

We sat there for a couple of hours, enjoying a lovely lunch & bottle of wine, having taken our coats off and just relaxed - and of course did lots of people watching. Next to us sat 2 elderly Italian couples, with the ladies dressed in fur and wearing huge sunglasses (of the type my mum just brought back from Italy ;)), sipping their Espresso. They were fascinating to watch, especially as there was no all round conversation but just the men to themselves and the ladies chatting away to each other, gesticulating wildly.

We were overlooking the waterways, watching tourists on the bridge, locals rushing past and street artists.... and didn't want to leave!!! :)

My most amusing moment occurred when I was helping some friends with the management of their country house hotel near Siena. One rainy night this guest turned up. He was a Brazilian Vet who had driven up from Rome and just wanted a meal and a room for the night.

We checked him in and collected his documents. I noticed that according to his passport, he was born on 17/4/1993. Considering this was 2003 and that he looked like Bluto from Popeye , he had certainly aged a bit in 10 years. As luck would have it, the local Carabinieri turned up shortly afterwards to look in on us. They decided to check the register and looked at the passports. Of course they spotted the DOB and asked to see the guy, who by then had retired to his room for the night.

I went to fetch our guest and explained what had happened. He just looked at me menacingly and then produced another passport. This one had his DOB as the 17/4/1963. This is more like it I thought, but told him that the officers wanted to se him. He appeared a few minutes later and gave one of the officers the passport.

I kid you not. Just picture the scene: 2 Carabinieri officers examining the suspect passports and eyeing the dodgy looking character standing before them when one of them says, “it is not possible for this signore to be 10-years old”

We then cracked up with laughter, except for the poor guest who must have thought we were all mad.:)

[QUOTE=manopello][FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]If I was a cynic I'd say you only posted this to let us know you had a Ferrari!!! I wont mention the car I was driving but needless to say it didnt make old ladies weep.

Becky[/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]
Becky, Im so sorry if I gave you that impression in my post, I think you may have misunderstood, the point of the posting was how a car,an Italian produced car, made a very old lady happy, as she obviously was very proud and passionate , as Ferrari in Italy is very much loved by all ages, and they show it, and that moment for me was great,and its very much true.:)

A couple of years ago, after an exhausting day sightseeing in Tuscany. We returned in the evening to San Gimignano. Absolutely starving and mildly thirsty for some nice chianti, we walked through the twisting alleyways looking for a decent place to eat. Just off the main drag was a medieval castlesque looking tavern, "What fun" we thought. Inside was a menagerie of medieval tapestries, dusty painting, flagstone paving and even a suit of armour. It was a barmy night, so we decided to dine outside since the veranda also overlooked the rooftops of the town and the resturant was quite quiet. We decided to go straight into main course and order a nice bottle of vino to watch the sun go down with. We settled down to what was an average meal, but needs must.

However the moment we had finished our last mouthful of food the waiter started fretting around us and told us the resturant was closing, to our astonishment he promptly started corking our wine and removing the table cloth, and provided us with the bill - plonked bruskly on our table. Since it was only about half nine quarter to ten, we were astonished, not even to be allowed to finish our wine or have desserts. As we searched for cash, since we had found the only resturant in Tuscany that doesnt take cards, I suddenly got the biggest wiff of sweat ever! I turned round and was confronted with a huge, disgruntled chef with the worst Bobby Charlton hair ever, holding a meat cleaver with what looked like the stains of the last customer that dared stay later than ten o'clock smeared all over his..vest. We paided and left sharpish. :eek:

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]Franatti no worries ..just pulling your leg!

I don't know what it is about my family but we really have all the luck on holiday in Italy!

A few years back we booked for a long weekend in Venice.It seemed we had a great deal with a b&b right by the Grand Canal however just a few days before we we due to go the guy who'd booked us in phoned to say he'd fallen out with the owner and we couldnt stay! We had 1 day to find a hotel and this was at the time of The Venice Biennale so it was choker! I managed to track down an agency who told me they had room in a newly opened hotel she told me the name and I quickly printed off the web site details.

Our flight was a late one and it was after 10.30pm when we got off at the Rialto with my map.After an hour of searching we still couldnt find it.I went and collasped in a bar while my partner tried to find help.Very luckily he met a German couple who were staying at our hotel or so we thought.The problem was the owner's had no record of our booking and it looked as if we'd have to spend the night on a bench!

We managed to find another hotel that for 200 euros chucked out a member of staff from his attic room.

In the morning I phone home and got my sister to contact the agency it turned out they had given the wrong name using the Italian Palazzo instead of Palace. When we eventually spoke to the hotel they felt so sorry for us they didn't charge us for the night we missed and we had a fab time in Venice.I really enjoyed the Peggy Guggenhiem museum which is an oasis of calm and coolness.I'd love to go back there again one day.

One tip if you are staying take a torch as the side streets are very dark and signs impossible to read!:)

Becky[/SIZE][/FONT]

I arranged a holiday for some friends and my sister

We arrived at San Marcello Pistoiese - in high winds and very hard rain

The accomodation - well I was told to meet someone at a bar - but when I got there it wasnt open - doing renovations

I tried to contact the guy - my Italian wasnt strong then - the painter eventually got hold of the sister of the man who owned the house - and later he met us

Drived up to the house - he was wearing a ripped leather jacket and drove a beaten up old Polo - driving into the hills - not tarmac- (and slightly wet) we were beginning to worry)

last hill down - well you couldnt see ur road beneath you - it was an act of faith - hey but once u done it once - whats the problem

got to house - no food or drink to welcome us - so we had to drive back down to the town

bought our shopping and then progressed back to the car park - in strong winds we were walking thru an archway - when a great wind dragged the village doors off its hinges and knocked my sister down - looking back it was a comical moment - but I was in shock

I shouted out for help - my Italian was not good - but there were passers by already phoning an ambulance

2 mins later a man - with a bum bag came to put bandages on my sisters bloody head -

there was a car trying to come thru the arch - and a local shouted at him in Italian - dont you realise a woman has just been knocked down by a 12 foot wooden and iron door

and 5 mins later the ambulance arrived - and they put my sister in one of those neck braces

then the ambulance wouldnt allow me in the back - so a local with a red umbrella walked me to the hospital -

arrived there - later - still wet the caribinieri arrived and asked questions - my only Italian I knew allowed me to say door and the owner of the Villa -

The guy from the Villa turned up - dealt with the police - found our shopping - and drove me home - leaving my sister at the hospital

I had spoken to the doctors - but she was in good hands now - they didnt ask for the E111 just got on with it

...

lots happened

...

but the bottom line - is my sister is a fighter - and she saw it all as an adventure - and the village welcomed us to their Pranzo - gave my sister a plaque - and the mayor invited her to use her holiday house whenever she needs to

a week later her car ended up down a ditch - but thats another story - a local gypsy riding bareback on a horse found her..

having said all that - the owner - the son of the family that owned the accomodation -- and a local football player - helped as much as he could - and I would thoroughly recommend his place - its amazing - probably the only holiday accomodation with a view from the pool down the valley - with no other habitation in sight

Una zingara su un cavallo.. che romantica! Se possibile potresti racconti di piu'?

Did he become her knight in shining armour? :D

It was my first Xmas here when a few colleges and I decided to go and see Papa do his thing at the Vatican on Xmas Eve. Trying to get any number of my workmates organised is like taking a group of five year olds on a school trip to Wales, so as usual we were late setting out. We started out with 5 people squeezed into my Fait Uno, by the time we were getting into Rome I was losing the circulation in my legs and was going faster just to get the journey over with. It also hurt to break, which was not helping keep the speed down, as I was trying to avoid doing it.

Now just before you get to the river there are a set of traffic lights which are a bit like the start of a dual carriage way, that when they realized it was only going to last a 100 yards, decided to forget the whole thing. So there is this bit of road too the right of the light that does not go anywhere and people use as a pavement, parking spot and a way of getting around the lights when they are on red.

Just as I reach these lights, they change so I do the Roman thing and go though them on the right, 2 seconds later the blue lights come on. Luckily it turns out to be the first and only officer I have met here that speaks excellent English. Unfortunately he turns out to be one of these coppers that enjoy pointing out the error of you ways, saying things like “You do stop for red lights in England don’t you? Well you have to here as well” in a voice that just makes you want to hit him. I’m apologizing while thinking ‘So I have to stop, while the rest of Rome passes me on the right?’ Then he says “And why were you going so fast?” I explained that we were going to hear the Popes address. With that he looks at his watch and says ‘You’re late” he then started pushing me to the car telling me I should hurry. As I am getting in he tell me “But when you go home please stop at any red lights”

I would like to say that in thanks for this godly intervention we stayed for the whole speech. But it was so cold in the piazza, we only lasted about 15 minutes before we had to give in.:D

Oh so many, possibly too many to mention.

Driving into Siena very early one morning between Christmas & New Year last winter immediately behind the snow plough. Am amazing experience, I'd never seen one in action before, sparks actually fly as the metal bucket thing scrapes the ground. Then the light coming up as we drove through the Chianti on the Siena/Firenze road and suddenly seeing all the vine covered hills blanketed in white. It was stunning. And more snow too in Florence. I climbed the campanile as opposed to the dome of Il Duomo for a change and was rewarded with the most beautiful view of the Florentine rooftops dusted in snow.

Standing on the Accademia Bridge in Venice on my 30th birthday with a heavy fog swirling around. Could barely make out the dome of Santa Maria della Salute. It was as though we'd stepped straight in to a Turner painting, quite magical.

When I'm driving back after having been away and see the sign on the autostrada indicating the Orvieto service station is 26 km ahead. I always, always think, thank goodness, not much further after that, nearly home now. Surely the best feeling in the world.

[quote=Violetta].....When I'm driving back after having been away and see the sign on the autostrada indicating the Orvieto service station is 26 km ahead. I always, always think, thank goodness, not much further after that, nearly home now. Surely the best feeling in the world.[/quote]

Actually, the best service station for food; that would be another great thread.

We still giggle at our friend's reaction to the fiorentina steak & litro they had outside Floence....I thik they were expecting age-curled sandwiches & a bag of crisps(!)

D

So very many moments! Here's a few.....

After we got married at the Campidoglio in Rome, we hired 8 horse-drawn carrozze and went on a short tour of the city centre. The reaction of the Roman people was fantastic (shouts of 'Vive le sposi!' from young and old alike) and really made our day.

The hot summer day when my car broke down on a busy road near the Vatican Musuem with a leaky radiator. The reaction of the passers-by and local shop-owners was fantastic; lending mobile phones, rushing out with buckets of water etc.

Pausing for lunch half-way along the Cinque Terre walk. There's a bar above, Vernazza, (near the Genoese fortress) with the most magical view of the sea below. Never has a cold beer tasted so good!

Being part of a proccession of Ferraris through Umbria in our friend Alberto's red 308GTS. I even got to sit in the local big-shot's Enzo, though I didn't get to drive it.

Being invited into the home of a family in Pitigliano, as we walked through the village during the vendemmia; they took us down to the cellar of their little house to show us the wine being made.

Diving off the side of the rowing boat inside the Grotta Azzurra in Capri, in my M&S boxers; illicit, but fun!

The first taste of our olive oil each year, when its cloudy green and peppery, fresh from the mill.

Reading so many nice stories about my country being forced to stay abroad because of my job and not going home more than 3, 4 times a year for just a few days it makes me fill envious, proud and happy at the same time. Many thanks to all of you...grazie mille :)

I always say that in Italy 'always expect the unexpected' ;) .

Even the potentially most mundane days hold very special supprises and moments which stay with you forever. I could list many examples of this occuring but I have tried to narrow it down to a couple.

Two weeks ago we took a trip to Porto Venere, a beautiful village just below the Cinque Terre. When we arrived we could hear a tremendous commotion coming from out to sea, which I first thought was lightining (even though it was a lovely sunny day) but turned out to be the Italian navy carrying out bombing practice (well I assume they were practicing and not invading France)!!! Later on that evening as we were having dinner on the waterfront my husband shouted 'look there's a submarine', and I turned around and saw a line of submarines making their way across the gulf of poets back towards La Spezia - it was amazing to watch! I was brought up on the coast, near Southampton/Portsmouth and have never seen anything like that before.

While we were in Tuscany we decided to pop into a village to pick up some provisions. We parked up and wandered across a bridge to the village centre. My husband always stops to look at a river to check its fishing potential but was supprised to see two otters playing on the banks. We watched them for ages, but all the Italians didn't look twice as if it was an everyday occurance. I was always told that European otters were very shy and retiring animals and that the chances of seeing them in the wild were almost zero - however nobody had told these otters this piece of information and they were as gregarious and outgoing as the Italian people. Shopping in Italy is always far more exciting then going to Tescos back in the UK!

We have so many other examples, however others have written about turning up at unexpected festas, experiencing unexpected kindness and support from the locals ..........

I was in Rome waiting for my family to arrive from Bari. My son was getting a little board. We decided to flatten a few coins on the ferrovia. A man across the way saw us and asked as we were looking for the squashed coins. What were we looking for? I explained that we were putting coins on the track etc. Then he asked where are you from? I replied guess. He said I can't tell maybe Milano. I so no the USA. Well I felt like I fit in. When my cousin arrived I told him the story. He you found an Italian that speaks Italian worse than you!

My best Italian moments are always when something goes wrong and is somehow righted in the most Italian of ways.
I was entertaining an Australian broadcaster who had presented the Perugia Jazz Festival to his audience and had visited Italy many times. Unfortunately when his wife expressed a desire to visit Urbino he grumbled that he had been twice and both times the Ducal Palace had been closed. Our one opportunity to visit was a Monday and knowing that most Italian museums are closed that day I rang and yes the museum was open until 2pm. Marvellous! We had an hour and a half on the road, it would give us an hour in the museum but we’d have to have a late lunch, so off we set immediately. From Tuscany the road is murderous and my friend drove, carefully over the circuitous Mountains of the Moon and finally arrived at the carpark at the base of the Ducal Palace at exactly 1 o’clock. We walked up and up as the elevator had just closed for lunch (as elevators do) and arrived at the door at 1.05 puffing and red faced. Finally there we were greeted with a stern ‘No’ … the ticket office had just closed and there was no way it we could go in. Maybe it was the winding road, the puffing up the hill or the disappointment of my friend missing the Museum for a third time but whatever I exploded in a tirade of Italian that I had never before or since managed to repeat. ‘He is an important journalist from Australia,’ I implored, begged and pleaded. Back and forth the many officials went between the ticket office and phone. ‘We rang before we came and were told the museum closes at 2. We’ve been on the road for hours! And we only want to see the Pieros and the Raphael’ Yes that is true and one had recalled taking the call. Finally after ten minutes they had found a solution. No, they couldn’t sell us a ticket but yes, we would enter, for free, as their guests with a personal guide. A truly spectacular Italian solution!
We were delighted as we entered the wonderful museum, saw the most beautiful small painting in the world; Piero della Francesca’s Flagellation, The superb La Muta by Raphael, and marvelled in the perfect architecture of the Duke’s incredible. We thanked everyone profusely and I did write about the museum myself in Italy Magazine.
Over our delicious late lunch at the nearby restaurant, we all agreed that it was our best Italian moment.

The stones moved! :D

[FONT=Times New Roman][LEFT][FONT=Arial]Speaking of the unexpected...my most unusual experience happened whilst en-route to my girlfriend’s house one Saturday afternoon.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]I had just exited the Autostrada at Firenze Sud and was making my way up into the hills just south of Florence via a small lane that passes underneath the motorway. Just before reaching the underpass, I saw two men running towards me. One of the men was being chased by the other brandishing a stick and screaming abuse. I had to stop my car suddenly because the guy being chased jumped out in front of me doing an impersonation of Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]As soon as I stopped he opened the passenger door, jumped in and locked the door behind him, begging me to give him sanctuary from the “bearded madman” outside. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]My “passenger” then explained that there had been a minor head on collision between the two and that when he got out of his car to sort things out, the other chap went absolutely mad and started to attack. He had no alternative but to run and that is when I stumbled across them in the middle of the road.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]I called the Carabinieri to explain what had happened. The operator then asked me to get the “madman’s” ID (it took me about 20 mins to calm him down) and assured me that a patrol car would be with me shortly. 25 minutes had now passed and still no Carabinieri to be seen, so I called 112 again. The operator told me that I had done the right thing and that officers would be arriving shortly.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]The Carabinieri eventually arrived 45 mins after I called. It took them another hour to take our statements and complete their paperwork before taking the “madman” (who was well over the limit for drink driving) and his victim to their HQ for further questioning. [/FONT]

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