There is something about Italians

By

Monica Bilotta	Gherardo Giannarelli

- Italians in Wales seem Welsh, you cannot distinguish them. They are cafe owners and they make the best fish and chips. They are fireable, drammatical, and they gesture a lot when speaking- says Rhisiart drinking another beer near the pool table- they are a bit irresponsible and they are always after girls.

His friend Twm, waiting to play, noddles and adds: - Wales also has a similar romantic destiny, most probably stemming from the same Latin roots.

These sentences may be the best ones collected until now about Italians. The character is well defined: an overacting and crazy man whose hands are always moving through the air, drawing strange signs that wouldn't be disliked by a magician. All gestures emphasise all that emotions impossible to be expressed with words, and of course never should. What makes Italians so irresponsible is their complete unawareness about consequences and total careless and plain vision of future.

And what about women? Italian men usually have no good references, but quoting the polish girl Olga: - Boys hang out dressed as they should be, clean and tidy with tie…

If men are so good remarked let's have an example of what a foreigner could think about Italian women: - I admit I have some prejudices about Italy. One of them is the image of the Italian women and their beauty. I find them very attractive and seductive. When you can see girls running with their scooters in light dresses, you feel, if you're old as me, distracted.

Michael remarks these few words with a giddy and happy expression but later his face becomes quite serious when he points at the cities: - It's nearly impossible to believe how the city is lived and crowed all the time. By the way, they're surrounded by cars, bikes… Italians are really mad drivers and they don't care about pedestrians or traffic regulations. Olga has a nice story about this behaviour: - I was in Rome with my family and we were waiting to cross an avenue at the traffic light. We had red so we stood on the pavement; so a group of youngsters on bikes stopped in front of our passing though they could get along. When our green light came and we walked they let go their motors and they nearly got us. Since then, I've learned to cross streets in Italy wherever I can with no worrying about signs…

It's intolerable that many think about the sun; the seaside; spaghetti; Pizza; Florence; Venice; the Opera; Celentano; ice creams and wine, while Italy has a rich artistic patrimony and a literary history all but provincial up to the XVII century.

-When Italians go to foreign countries, they always complain about the food: the only food bearable is their own. - Says Saskia - but anyway, you must be aware that to foreigners Italy is bound with Mafia.

Monika with her light Slovakian accent says that Italian families are big, with three generations living together under the same roof.

Between the two World Wars, the Fascist party encouraged women to give birth to the maxim number of citizens for the country, but, nowadays, the Italian growth rate is the lowest in Europe. Singles, a growing community, complain that supermarkets have no single-food products. Many couples have no children or only one. In the south, people keep on having babies even if a family of 6 members is a very big one. Italians consider themselves really in love with their Mamma, who is taking care of her little 30 year-old baby. As a matter of fact, sons and daughters live with their parents much more than as do their European counterparts, usually until wedding. It is said that it is a matter of money, but anyway an 18-year-old boy who could live on his own in his parent's city would seem very strange.

There is an Italian proverb that says - Dirty clothes need to be washed in the family - it means that quarrels, and troubles have to be shunned from the external world, to which the family has to appear united, strong, and happy as in commercials. Familiar feelings are truly important so that in troubles, the family can be united as never before or relatives could help each other forgetting contrasts. This tradition, based on closeness, will disappear.

- Italians are always smiling, they seem really optimistic. I don't know but to me they're a generous people. Monika smiles gently as she says these few words and her voice turns easily in a heartily laughter.

Optimism it's one of the things it's strange to hear about the Italians. Bureaucracy and corruption created untrustful feelings and a sense of fatalism. Young people are deceived, but also bright and positive about their possibilities. They know that they will need to fight to find a job and they are ready to use all their energies, creative and elastic.

On the streets they seem almost as they have some confused way of dressing; from ties and good shoes to chains and wore-out jeans, but their eyes move quick, they move with certain steps.

Italians are sociable, peacable, good friends. They have strong feelings for everything they are concerned about and cannot avoid to show them. Their imagination is fairly famous and they are said to be the best companion at parties; loud screamer at home and abroad. Under the Latin-lover surface a passionate soul is hiding deep, fond of poetry and beauty. Italian males live in a world surrounded by beauties: nature, art and women, with the maternal Icon that affects their behaviour since their birth as Michael describes: - Italian men just stay into their mother's pocket until they don't find another woman and get into hers.

Sexes try to reach their destiny: men want to be children bound to their Mother´s breast, women would like to feel as the mother, taking care of these childish companions. Trying to be more objective, we should say that both females and males, are still prisoners of the cliché that wants women sensitive, emotional and inaccessible and men strong, acting like if they have no feelings, just sex-minded. As they both don't reach their dreams the voice is spread and sexes relationships are always so described: for Italian women men are all bastards, except their boyfriends. On the other hand men say that all Italian women play hard to get.

Italian meals are based on pasta, as everyone think. Nowadays you can find pasta all over the world, but for strange reason seems that Europeans are non able to learn the original pasta's cooking time, so that they have no idea of the true flavour of Italian meal.

It is not only a matter of flavour. Mediterranean diet is famous all over the world as the most healthy and recent studies claim its great balance among nutritional elements.

Thieves: in big cities you must be careful, especially if you look like a tourist. Then, you risk to be robbed by the first absence of mind. It is enough, anyway, have always some contact with you bag and put your wallet in the front pocket.

In south of Italy usually the small criminals are more active when Mafia is not strong or some "family" is losing power and another is gaining it. In fact Cosa Nostra doesn't like to attract police attention.

It is very difficult to try to express in which way Mafia does really interferes with daily life of the people of south of Italy: if you are not connected with Mafia activity you can live without having anything to do with it. It is different if you run a shop, because in that case you have usually to pay a pizzo if you don't want your shop on fire or one relative to be threaten.

All over the years people have always fight against these blackmail, but its very difficult to end this situation because the state is not able to protect common people. On the other side, people don't trust the authority because for centuries it is been represented by corrupted people often colluded with Mafia themselves.

In big cities you are not suppose to walk alone at night, man or woman, if there are not people around and open pubs or similar. It is different in small cities like Pisa, in which a girl can go anywhere alone at night, without running any risk. To be precise it's more safe midnight that eight o'clock p.m., because all parachutists are again in the barracks.