I don’t know if it’s because we’re in the midst of the busy summer tourist season in Italy or what, but a couple blogs I read have recently written “How To” posts about various things in Italy. These are some that I find not only interesting, but useful:
How to Cross an Italian Street - Anyone who has walked through a busy Italian city will know why this lesson is a valuable one to learn by reading someone else’s tips rather than trying to learn by doing. The former might seem like learning by abstract theory, but the latter could get you killed. The tips in this piece are excellent, but I’d add one more - when in doubt, shadow an elderly Italian woman. They always seem to have the right of way.
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Some news snippets from Italy for your Sunday reading pleasure:
Florence and Rome are the World’s Best Cities - according to Travel + Leisure magazine readers, anyway.
Using the “V” word (Italy’s “F” word) is no crime, so says an Italian court.
I love Italian food, but putting the Mediterranean diet on the UNESCO list? Really? A diet?
Omigod, I want to go to Lucca and be a test subject at the new shoe manufacturing research facility. Seriously, I have no problem being a guinea pig for Italian shoe makers. Where do I sign up?
When you see weather reports that say Italy is on fire because of the high heat this summer, that’s not just a figure of speech. Forest and brush fires are ripping through southern Italy.
A hunger striker in Italy has died after protesting his right to end his own life; Italy’s Health Minister says it might be time to consider introducing living wills to the country.
A 60-year old woman near Venice was busted for growing nearly 700 marijuana plants on her terrace. Her son claims he tried to get her to stop growing the stuff. Yeah, right.
Vineyards in Tuscany are planning to pick this year’s wine crop about a month earlier than normal this year due to weird weather patterns.
Remember that show of “gay” art, the first one ever to be shown in Milan? Well, it was canceled before it even opened because people worried it might offend Catholics.
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You might have noticed that we’ve been on vacation recently here at the Italy Logue - although, unfortunately, that hasn’t meant that we’ve actually gone anywhere. Instead, we’ve been undergoing a bit of a facelift. As you can see, the look of the Italy Logue is different and, we hope, more useful.
The top of the Italy Logue will now feature permanent links to all kinds of helpful information for people planning trips to Italy, which we think is an improvement over the old format where great tidbits of information would slowly slide down the front page and be gone from …
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The last time I was in the Cinque Terre, that divine collection of five tiny fishing villages clinging to the Ligurian cliffs, I overheard an American tour leader speaking with the owner of the Internet cafe I was in. She was with the Rick Steves group I had bumped into earlier in the day, and was reporting to the bar owner how sometimes Rick actually feels badly that he publicized the Cinque Terre so much. These little villages, which may at one time have been accurately described as “sleepy,” are now busy and …
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Some Italian news and tidbits for your Sunday reading:
The new seven wonders of the world have been announced, and Italy’s entry - the Colosseum in Rome - made the final cut.
Touring in Campania without a car? You can borrow a bike for free.
Don’t be afraid to order una birra in Italy - beer drinking is beginning to rival wine drinking these days.
Italy isn’t exactly progressive when it comes to gay rights, so this first show of “gay art” in Milan is a big deal.
Use of marijuana is up in Italy quite a bit in the last few years.
The Papal dungeons are reopening this summer - but not for prisoners. This time, they’re open for tourists in the form of night tours.
Italy’s beautiful Dolomites will have to wait to get added to a UNESCO list - apparently more information is required.
Artwork inspired by the torture of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib will be on display in Milan.
Climate change in Italy doesn’t just mean the heat can kill you, now rain is deadly, too.
What many people outside Italy think of as “real Italian food” wouldn’t even be recognizable in Italy itself. Some of the differences are noted here.
Venice’s food might not be as notable as the cuisine from the Emilia-Romagna, but it’s not as bad as you’ve been told, either. Especially if you know what to look for.
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Perhaps because it was just named to the list of the New 7 Wonders of the World, the Colosseum has joined the online age. You can now buy tickets in advance to visit the Colosseum via a couple of websites (here and here).
As the websites are not limited to just the Colosseum, it’s possible to buy multiple advance tickets for various sights throughout the Lazio and Campania regions. Depending on the season, advance ticket purchases may or may not be necessary. During the high season, however, they’re often a must. It’s great that the Colosseum has joined the ranks of Florence’s Uffizi in terms of helping visitors spend more time seeing the sights and less time standing in line for them.
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With hot summer weather here and lots of people visiting Italy, there comes the age-old question of what to pack. What, in the land of fashion and “la bella figura,” will be acceptable to wear in Italy? Is it okay to wear the denim cutoff shorts, flip-flops and baseball cap I wear at home, or will I be forced to wear stilettos mini-skirts just to keep up with the fashionable Italians? As you might imagine, the answer is somewhere between those two extremes.
Truthfully, you can pack and wear whatever you want in Italy - your usual weekend wardrobe isn’t going to get you kicked out of most informal restaurants or museums (although immodest dress will get you turned away from most churches) - but it really is smart to think about what you are wearing and alter it slightly when visiting Italy. You’ll fit in better, and feel more at home.
Of course, I should say at the outset that no matter how hard I try, whenever I go to Italy I always feel out of place. Let’s face it - I’m a wannabe Italian, and will probably never really achieve the goal of looking like I fit in, as much fun as it might be to try. The husband and I make a policy of buying at least one clothing item (shoes count) on every Italy trip, and the unwritten rule is that if we see everyone wearing something in particular, we’ll buy it - even if, at the time, we don’t think we’ll end up liking it. So far, we’ve not been disappointed by a single purchase.
So, here are a few tips for men and women who want to steer clear of the shorts, white tennis shoes and ball caps - in other words, for the people out there who want to try to look less like a tourist and more like you know what you’re doing.
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When I was in high school, I was fascinated by France. Gearing up for my first visit to Paris, I can’t count the number of times I heard people talk about the stereotypical “rude Parisian.” I braced myself, assuming they were right, so it’s not surprising that I did meet a few rude people in Paris. What was more noteworthy, however, was that they weren’t the norm - instead, the vast majority of the people I met were perfectly pleasant and amiable. They weren’t my immediate best friends, but they were polite, which is all you can really ask of complete strangers. To me, this shows two things. First, you often see what you expect to see, so the exception might feel like the rule until you really open your eyes. Second, and perhaps most important, stereotypes don’t usually do anybody any favors.
Years later, on my first trip to Italy, I couldn’t stop talking about how helpful and friendly the Italians were that we’d been coming into contact with. My favorite example was the gentleman who lent his assistance with the unfamiliar pay phone in the Pisa train station, and at the same time explained the circumstances when one would use two different Italian words meaning “little.” I smiled about that for days. So when we got to Rome, the second-to-last stop on the trip, I was jarred by the abruptness of the people we encountered. Now, I don’t expect bus drivers anywhere to be beaming ear to ear at all hours, but I have to admit I was a little disappointed to not get any sort of acknowledgment after my “grazie” as I disembarked.
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Well, it’s not really Italian news, but news that might appeal to you if you’re a fan of both Italy and making money. See, there’s an online magazine which is in search of some articles at the moment, and one of the subjects they’re looking for right now happens to be the Roman Colosseum! So, get your quills sharpened and get writing.
The World & I Online is a prestigious, educationally based monthly online magazine. We provide unique, in-depth articles on a wide range of world topics, including science, culture, the arts, politics, history and philosophy. Visit our website at …
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I’m a huge fan of Italian sayings, so I was very pleased to come across a few pages on the Moving2Italy2 blog that deal with Italian sayings and expressions. Each page is a collection of links to other websites, and each page is occasionally updated with more information, so they’re worth bookmarking and returning to.
The first page deals with Italian Language Survival Phrases, so would be a good page to browse through before your upcoming trip to Italy. There are sound clips for many of the links, which is …
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