Everyone seems to like lists, and there is no shortage of Italian related ones; the top ten hotels, ten best beaches and the ten sculptures you should see. So to add to the ever growing list of lists, here’s another; ten quirky facts about Italy.
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In northern Italy, surnames tend to end in i (Abertini, Meneghini, Rossi) while those in the south often end in o (Caruso, Alfano, D'Onofrio).
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It is estimated that every day on average €3,000 is thrown into the Trevi Fountain in Rome.
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In 2007, a dog named Rocco discovered a truffle in Tuscany that weighed 3.3 pounds. It sold at auction for £198,500 ($333,000 USD) creating a world record.
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Soccer is Italy’s most popular sport, but not many people know that it was the British that introduced it to Italians in the game in the late 1800s.
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Over the years, Italy has won 13 Oscars at the Academy Awards, for best foreign language film, more than any other country.
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In 1454, two suitors from Marostica sought the love of one girl, but rather than fight a duel they took on the role of chess pieces and played a game of human chess with the winner earning the hand of the girl in question
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It’s said that there are more witches in Sardinia than anywhere else in Italy. The Sardinian witches are said to have their own unique language that is passed down to their daughters.
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In 1986, when McDonald's opened its first restaurant in Rome, people protested outside by giving away free spaghetti.
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Pasta comes in many shapes and sizes but one thing it all has in common is that all pasta names are plural.
And as we began the list with a name related fact, I’ll end it with another.
- The most common surname in the UK with around 730,000 people is Smith, in Italy it’s Rossi.
