Only Tuscany is enough
1) IT IS A COUNTRY YOU WILL UNDERSTAND:
You will understand their vibe, how cities are structured, the type of city/town area you are in just by taking a look, the humor of the people and their way of understanding the world … everything is different but it doesn't stop working recognizable , comfortable to travel, comfortable to live and capable of provoking that feeling of "it's like home".
2) YOU WILL ALSO UNDERSTAND THE BAD
The disorder, the corruption, the machismo, the rivalry between neighbors, the distinctions between north and south, the interference of the church in civil life, the inoperative bureaucracy... everything will be intimately familiar to you and familiar.
Positano
3) THE LANGUAGE
Although learning to speak and especially to write Italian correctly is not as easy as it seems, understanding and being understood is quite intuitive. And once you can defend yourself, oh, the musicality of Italian and all those platitudes about that language will seem like the absolute truth to you.
Devouring the country of the boot
4) YOU HAVE A GREAT CHANCE OF LIVING IN AN INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL PLACE
From a small village in Puglia to urban Milan passing through sulibeyante Venice, it's hard to find an ugly place in this country . And if you find yourself in a somewhat nondescript dormitory town, you know that it is statistically impossible that half an hour by train there is not a small medieval town/Roman temple/Renaissance palace of those that are a World Heritage Site ready to become part of the heritage of your retinas.
Panoramic view of Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo
5) YOU WILL NEVER BE FAR FROM THE SEA
On the coast of this country are some of the most beautiful and spectacular landscapes in the world: the cliffs of the Cinque Terre, the dramatic colors of the Amalfi Coast, the coast of Puglia … and the beaches of Sicily and Sardinia, which are somewhat the madness of the Mediterranean.
6)THE SENSE OF FASHION:
You may like the final result more or less, but it is obvious that in Italy more attention is paid to dressing than in other countries. Gentlemen who know how to wear a suit like who wears pajamas , ladies stuffed into leopard dresses without losing a degree of dignity, much love for Armani and Dolce and Gabbana, the ubiquitous giant sunglasses and the best dressed people you've ever seen.
More than 20 million tourists visit Venice each year
7) THE APPETIZER:
Here it has not been necessary for modernity to claim vermouth. In Italy you drink and drink with taste, class and variety. The young and the old aperitive, the most posh and the most informal aperitive and you will aperitive , delighted with your spritz in the piazza delle Erbe in Verona, your Hugo in a cantina in Trento or a glass of white wine in a Trastevere square. Not to mention that wonderful custom of serving an all-you-can-eat buffet to accompany your drink, which can include everything from roasted aubergines to trays of pasta to delicious tapas. Oh, appetizer, you are capable of amending the most horrible of days.
Scopello's tonnara is one of them
8) THE IMAGINATION:
They are able to lift the dome of the Florence Duomo and also shoot the end of Miracle in Milan. The country continues to function even if the governments fall and the parties crumble . They adore culture, they have one of the most important artistic heritages in the world -if not the most- and they manage not to condition them when it comes to moving forward. There is definitely something sentimental and fanciful about the Italian character.
9) THE TELEVISION:
It is as bad as the one here and that will generate a pleasant feeling of closeness . After all, since its inception, the friendly network was the economic and spiritual daughter of a very specific type of Italian television. That's where the programs with candles dressed in a lot of sequins or the Mediaset dating formats originate, that is, all that shit that we like so much.
Ferrara: much more than three products
10) IT IS PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO EAT BADLY:
Even in the humblest osteria you will find simple dishes that will bring tears to your eyes . This is fundamentally due to three things: product, product and product. And also, surprise, here the food (Italian, of course) is much cheaper and tastier than anything you've ever eaten. Not to get into the topic of ice cream and slushies, which directly come from planets other than those we know.
11) YOU WILL BECOME A VERY IN-NEED CHEF WHEN YOU RETURN
It is a fact that Italian cuisine is the most popular in the world, but precisely for this reason it is also one of the most perverted . Although fusion and miscegenation are already a very old thing, fully accepted and that reminds you of the Ketama, in Italy you will learn that classic recipes have become classic for a reason, and sometimes they differ quite a bit from what you had in mind. From your stay you will be able to say with all the authority in the world that the carbonara does not have cream and that yes, you have to add celery to the bolognese . Italians are usually very Nazi that their recipes are cooked with Italian products and brands, and they are more right than a saint . If you live in Italy for a while, you will spend the rest of your life looking for that specific brand of pecorino cheese or those cookies with almonds to dip in sweet wine that have become essential in your life.
Piedmont: rural beauty
12) THE VARIETY OF LANDSCAPES AND LIFESTYLES:
From the alpine north, that beauty among the filth of Naples, Tuscany, the microworld that is Sicily … traveling through Italy is a changing itinerary through very different cultures and scenarios that end up giving the feeling that it is an inexhaustible country.
13) THEY WILL MAKE IT EASY FOR YOU:
Italians tend to love Spanish, speak it and hear it. Almost everyone will make the effort to mumble a few words or make a nice comment about football. You will also discover the unusual success in this country of the music of Jarabe de Palo, Bebe or Ska-p . In exchange, you can hum the _ Papanamericano _ or the first part of Venice by Hombres G.
14) HAVE WE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT FOOD?
It's never enough. Italy is one of those countries where food goes beyond the mere act of nourishing oneself; it is religion, it defines a strong cultural identity and gathers friends and families around it to build society. Let's remember that the slow food movement was born here, whose commandments we should tattoo on ourselves in the head to be happier.
An example of how to order pasta bolognese correctly
15) TASTE FOR TRADITION:
In one of its wonderful contradictions , Italy adores modernity, the latest trend, the most trendy, and at the same time venerates and maintains traditional trades. Artisans, family businesses, love for traditions and things well done survive with freshness, from a _panificcio_ to a glove workshop . It will be that in reality both things are not a contradiction.
16) THE COFFEE:
This is one of those temple countries in which our favorite blackish, bitter and laxative drink is a ritual that people adore . Discover that “ristretto” is not just the name of a colored Nespresso capsule and that you should never ask for a cappuccino for after-dinner; learn to love marocchino and have a favorite barista. From now on, a coffee cut will seem simple and boring.
17) THE FAMILY:
Becoming part of an Italian family is much more than a simple kinship bond, it is an experience. Ask Raquel Sánchez Silva.
The variety of landscapes
18)THE DESIGN:
Saying “design” and having “Italian” appear on the tongue is a bit like saying “framework” and having “incomparable” appear. They have earned it. Furniture, cars, fashion, elegance and imagination. Love for detail and things well done in ultra-modern white offices full of people with colored glasses and hand-cut suits.
19) THE STORY:
Yes, it is classical Rome but also the Renaissance, Lorenzo de' Medici being stabbed as he left mass, the Council of Trent, Garibaldi landing in Sicily, the Allies doing the same thing a hundred years later, and Mussolini and Clara Petacci hanging naked upside down. Overwhelms, right? Well, wait until you start digging.
20) THE CLOSENESS:
Obvious but important. If you feel homesick, you know that traveling from Italy to Spain is very easy thanks to the regular flight connections to and the infinity of low cost companies that connect both countries. And if reading this you get a crazy and irrepressible desire to pack your bags, you know you are only a couple of hours away from this miraculously beautiful country.
*** You may also be interested in...**
- Sicily in ten towns - All the information about Italy - The ten most beautiful towns in Piedmont - 100 things you should know about Rome - Florence in ten steps and without stepping on the Uffizi - Eat Italy in nine steps
Sicily: 3,000 years of history under your wheels