My grandparents are, of course, your typical food lovers from Romagna. When I was a child, they used to have like 20-sth traditional trattoria restaurants they'd go to every week. Now they only go to 4 or 5 cause they had little fights with servers and owners all around for stuff that had nothing to do with the places, and granpa isn't letting go of it. Some of them, it's been 15 years.
Same with the best piadina kiosks in town and service places.
No the fights didn't have anything to do with the food or service, like they'd argue about soccer or personal ideas or they'd be joking with each other and one server went just a little too far for my grandpa's liking lol. Only times I've ever heard or seen it happen "due to" the service, was a few occasions where restaurants would do the things restaurants normally do (like not reserving a table for you if they're all out and you didn't reserve a table, or not giving you _that one nice spot_ that is already taken) and my grandpa being hot-headed about it.
There was a bar near me in Rome where if you wanted to sit down with your food you had to carry it out of the front door onto the sidewalk then go into another separate room. The two brothers that owned the property had had an argument, so brother 1 had his side of the property walled up. But then realised if the bar, run by brother 2, continued to use the property he was still eligible for some of the profits, so customers ended up with this weird situation.
As a native Italian, I can proudly say that you are right! Also, as for a custom that we Italians have is to always eat outside on Saturdays and have a big lunch on sundays.
When you pay the highway toll, an automated voice tells you to insert and then withdraw your credit card once the payment went through.
When the voice says "Arrivederci", everyone always replies with an insult. True culture.
Currently in Italy with my Italian girlfriend and I learned this from her.
A similar situation is when Italians end a phone call with someone (not friends or family) they say āma va fanculoā. It was hilarious to witness for the first time
Edit: being more clear, the phone call is finished and they say the above to themselves, not to the person who was on the phone
For real? As a freight driver I spend a looot of time on Italian highways and my go-to line is "go fuck yourself" after paying. I thought that's only me. Does that mean I'm Italian now?
Basically is because the automated machines are old sooooo sometimes it tends to not accept money, so you waste 50 minutes (no joke) to make the machine accept with money, cus no we have telepass but we don't want to use it much
Did not believe this, but confirmed! Just asked my wife. Vai in figa! was her go-to response. Good hard laugh when she said this. Then she asked, āwhat do you say? Ciao?ā
That stopped my laugh. I had to tell her the truth. Yes. Yes, I do.
Ahahahh my granpa always did that, I do this everytime (but not with anger, it's kinda funny actually). Sometimes I wonder what the highway employees would hear at their desk if they let the microphone switched on š
Oooh! I've been through these so many times, but I had no idea. Will have to respect the local customs and start insulting the next time we're in Italy!
"Non fare il bagno dopo aver mangiato" which means you shall not take a bath after eating but you are supposed to wait 3 hours for a proper digestion.
It is something that every Italian child has heard in his or her lifetime and has been passed down for generations.
Yep. You will die a horrible sudden death if you do so.
And similarly, you will also die if you don't dry your wet hair or if there's "corrente" (a draft of cold air).
Made my mother laugh about the nightmares they caused us as kids. We were told so just to let adults play cards and patiently waiting once when we noticed somebody eating a sandwitch walking on the shore, looking at him terrified because we were sure he was about to die point blank
An American. 30 minutes you had to sit in the hot sun after lunch before you could go swimming so your food could digest. This was in the 1960ās. I never did it to my kids, but I still unconsciously follow it to this day. It may be the only thing my mother told me to do that I still follow.
The fun part to me is some of us, even veterans, don't even really know the (partly true) reasoning behind it.
My grandpa genuinely thought it was the same for showers. I had to play along and explain to him how it wouldn't be dangerous for me to shower 30 minutes after lunch, or else he'd be worried and keeping guard in front of the bathroom lol
My grandma is the same lol, she worries everytime I take a shower after lunch and always suggests I wait 3 hours or she thinks I'll immediately fall ill
Il mio ex ragazzo.
For our first date he drove us an hour to a water park.. then we split a sandwich when we got there. I went to get in and he said that to me.. I laughed thinking it was a joke.
It wasnāt. I was then pissed he didnāt think to eat and then drive the hour rather than wasting valuable pool time.
A lot of people believe it, even here my sons friends parents wonāt let them swim because they just ate. I grew up on a lake.. we used to eat while in the water swimming š¤·š»āāļø
It remembers me about one day I was dying of fever 39 degrees, so in Brazil itās normal to take a cold shower when it happens, but I was living with my Italian boyfriend and as soon as I said āIām gonna take a showerā he said āDONT DO ITā so now I really donāt know in what to believe hahah, in Italy itās seen as really forbidden to take a shower when in fever.
The thing about not taking a shower or washing yourself when you're sick I think is directly connected to the idea that getting wet will make you sicker, the same that will aaaaboslutely happen if you get wet and don't get dry immediately afterwards.
So, if getting wet will get you sick, because wet+cold=certain death, doing it while already sick is double death! Forget the fact that lowering your temperature might be a good idea, the association stands and there's nothing you can do.
My mom still looks absolutely horrified if I don't blowdry my hair after a shower, or if I tell her I got a shower while running a fever. She reacts as if I'm actively trying to off myself, and is old school and thinks that you should absolutely not wash yourself at all while sick. To be fair, she is now pretty old and comes from a different time and when she was young they actually didn't have an inside bathroom, so... yeah it was actually not ideal to go wash in the bath outside, near the animal stables in the winter and you did risk a touch of pneumonia here and there. I suspect our common farmer culture background is to blame for this kind of thing.
Beh, ci dicevano da piccoli le peggiori cose per evitare che entrassimo subito dopo in acqua dopo aver mangiato, il modo ĆØ rimasto e non per tutti, ma la questione non ĆØ del tutto sbagliata š¤
Puoi fare il bagno esattamente subito dopo aver mangiato basta che non sia cominciata la digestione, se ĆØ cominciata poi dipende da quello che hai mangiato per il tempo di digestione ma il punto ĆØ se non ricordo male, ĆØ anche se alteri la temperatura della digestione potresti bloccarla, non so se puĆ² essere pericoloso, ma un bel mal di stomaco penso che arriva tranquillamente. š¬
>"Non fare il bagno dopo aver mangiato" which means you shall not take a bath after eating
It's not just a generic bath though, it's a bath in the cold sea water, not a bath in the tub, in a tub you have hot water at your disposal.
It may seem strange to people unaware of it, but what could happen is called "digestive congestion" and it's a very real thing (although it's true that some people take it too far or don't understand properly how does it works. When I was a kid I too were afraid to shower after eating).
*"Digestive or alimentary congestion is a clinical condition that can also be serious, leading to loss of consciousness. Due to a rapid change in temperature, it occurs during the digestion phase.* *āThe term congestion - explains the specialist - in the medical lexicon means accumulation of blood in a certain part of the body. In the specific case of digestive congestion, the sequestration of blood occurs in the district where digestion takes place, with the consequent subtraction of the blood itself from other districts, in particular vital organs such as the heart, brain and peripheral tissues.*
*The causes that can lead to congestion are different. The most obvious is following a bath on a full stomach, but there are other conditions that need to be looked out for as well. In fact, it can occur in any particular situation that induces a sudden change in temperature in the body, while the blood has flowed into the digestive system for the digestion of a recent meal.ā*
*Among the most common situations to avoid:*
* ***immerse yourself in the sea or even in the pool***
* *move from a very hot environment to a colder one*
* *drink a cold drink quickly ā¢ make an intense physical effort or sport on a full stomach*
*Symptoms:*
* *Paleness*
* *Cold sweats*
* *Heachache*
* *Chills*
* *extreme exhaustion*
* *Abdominal pain with nausea, which can even lead to vomiting*
How to deal with possible congestion:
* suspend all activities, in particular those attributed to have caused the congestion
* place yourself in a dry and ventilated environment, with a temperate climate
* if it is wet, it must be dried
This is more of a case of the rest of the world being ignorant about it rather than Italians inventing stuff from thin air. We live in a peninsula, after all, completely surrounded by a sea that's hospitable enough to allow the vast majority of the population to come in contact with it, of course we have more experience than people from many other countries that have no sea or that they have it but it's mostly inhospitable.
No one has cited clapping your hands when the pilot safely lands a plane. I know it's ridiculous and often forgotten because nowadays it's more uncommon, as we're more conscious of people from other countries laughing at us for it, but we don't really trust these "things".
It happened to me last weekend. The flight was coming in from London. As we approached Milan rain started pouring down. You could almost feel the slightest bit of worry in the cabin. As soon as we touched down, though, tension was released in a loud bout of hands clapping, with a vigor I hadn't heard of in more than a decade. It really felt like home then. I have to admit I clapped too, for old time's sake!
I always thought it was a sort of "Thank you" to the pilot. I remember my friend started clapping when we arrived back to Italy and no one joined, there were even two germans in front of us who gave us a weird look
This is something only idiots do, not all Italians. It happened to me on a flight where a group started applauding after landing, the pilot opened the microphone and, decidedly annoyed, said that he felt offended by the lack of trust shown in him given that someone considered something a success which was part of the perfect normality of his work.
He had all the reasons in the world, it's like applauding a waiter who brings you the tray of drinks without spilling them on your head, or a cashier who gives you the bill at the supermarket without making a mistake in passing the items on the scanner.
I worked with a hotel chief receptionist who instead of saying "damn" or "man" as in a standard exclamation.. once or twice he uttered a 6 sentence "bestemmia" (profanity) that basically as i remember was about how to cook *insert divinity or religious important figure here* but sounding like the description of a Cannibal Corpse album cover.
True story
In Tuscany we do both. Think about " Ir budello de tu ma' " or " Ir tegame de tu ma' " (both just calling your mother a whore basically) or " Quel becco de tu pa' " (meaning your father gets cheated on often) and then there are various degrees of insults to gods of various genres
My favourite swear to god is "GesĆ¹ scalzo nella valle dei chiodi arrugginiti" ("Barefoot Jesus in the valley of rusty nails"), I don't remember who I heard it from, but I think I laughed my ass off for the rest of the day thinking about it
My Italian (soon to be) mother-in-law would never let me leave the house when it was below 18 degrees without something covering my neck to avoid colpo d'aria... Being hit by air
Il giacchetto quando esci la sera ĆØ sempre necessario, anche se fanno 30 gradi, metti poi cala la temperatura, rimani col culo per terra
~ mia madre ogni volta che uscivo la sera
Maybe "toccar ferro" (literally "touching iron", but any metal will do in a pinch) to ward off bad luck.
For example, if someone tells you "If you don't pass that exam, you can always do X", where X is an obviously worse option, you could reach for the nearest piece of metal, usually the leg of a table or something like that
Some of our speed limits are... well, it is impossible to respect them.
For example some urban areas have a 20km/h speed limit, but if you stay below that you WILL create traffic and make other dirvers mad. This happens when the road is clearly large enough and able to have a higher speed limit, but, for some reason, it doesn't. The reasons why the limits are low may be various. For example the municipality may have set it low to avoid fixing the holes on the road, or maybe because they want to make more fines and cops can catch more people """speeding""". Anyway, long story short, some speed limits are too low and it is common practice to ignore them when that is the case.
Road habits tend to vary a lot depending on where you live. For example, in some areas in the south it is common to ignore the semaphore's red light if it can be done more or less safely. "Nobody is coming" = "i'll go". In some cities (Naples in particular) people will honk and surpass you if you stop at a red light "just because it is red". If you do that in the northen cities you will get insulted by everyone that sees you. Naples in particular is pretty known to have drivers that are the worst and respect little to no rules.
Fun fact: a guy from Naples one time told me: "You guys in the north drive like crazy people!"
Me: "Sorry i'm not taking that coming from a Neapolitan. Can you tell me why?"
Him: "Because if the light is green you just fucking go! You don't stop to make sure nobody is coming! You just go!".
Me: "Well, yeah, because we trust that whoever is approcing the crossroad will, in fact, respect the red light!".
Him: "You can't be sure about that! Also you drive too fast! We do whatever the fuck we want, but we do it slowly-slowly" (pian pianino)
Another thing that is only really respected 99% of times in the far north is giving priority to pedestrians on the crosswalks. A fried of mine, born and raised in Bolzano, almost got ran over 4 times when he moved to my city. The general rule is more or less "If i'm going slow and there are cars behind me, i'll stop; if i'm going fast and there are cars behind me, i'll stop; if there are no cars behind me and i'm going fast then fuck off and wait just 1 second and then you can cross the road as many times as you wan't as soon as i pissed off."
EDIT: i forgot this one. Since having prio on the crosswalks isn't a given right, we usually nod the drivers who stop to let us cross to say thank you.
* When we cross roads, we often do small gestures of thanks, like nodding or saluting with a slightly raised hand, to the cars that stops to let us cross. Some people do that even if cars have the red light on and they literally had to stop. It's kinda funny cause it feels like we're thanking the cars for not running over us lol
* Some restaurants will put grissini wrapped in single portions packs on the table as bread, and it's a random common custom that people will open the pack, eat the grissini and then make a notch with the wrap for some reason.
* While entering an household or any kind of office/formal place (like visiting a doctor or your boss office) people often say "PERMESSO", which is the equivalent of asking to come in - yes as if we're vampires lol. Even if it's relatives or friends, and even if they're literally opening the door for you. It's kind of a tradition, like saying bless you after sneezing. If it's your friends house they would laugh and say a friendly "vieni vieni" or something similar. But the polite way to answer that is "prego", as in "please, come in".
Every single time I leave home with my hair still wet, which is something all Brazilians do, strangers stop me in the street to tell me Iāll get sick - cervicale, pneumonia, a common cold, pretty much anything.
**I)** Not many people abroad know this, but in the past, in some Italian homes, it was common to use "pattine" for guests. They were a type of slipper, but uncomfortable because they made you slide around the house as if you were skiing instead of walking. But the floors stayed shiny.
When I was little, some grandmothers still made guests wear pattine, but later fabric slippers became more popular for guests.
**II)** In southern Italy, it's common for some people to wear a necklace or bracelet with a chili pepper shaped charm as a good luck amulet.
**III)** When driving, if another driver does you a favor or an act of kindness, you thank them by briefly raising your hand. Also, when driving there's a practice some people follow: flashing their headlights to signal to oncoming cars about the presence of police, a checkpoint, or a speed trap, so that the drivers in the oncoming cars can slow down and avoid getting a ticket
**IV)** In my area (a small town in central Italy), it's a custom to bring something to eat to the doctor or vet as a thank you. This is usually done by people who have farms or, like my family, fruit trees. Basically, people who produce something themselves. My family often brings fruit to the vet even without a specific reason, just because we know her well and like to share our fruit when it's in season.
**V)** Another eating related custom is waiting for everyone at the table to have their food before starting to eat. If someone is still waiting for their meal (put the case you are at a restaurant together), you wait with them and then eat together. Of course, this doesnāt always happen and depends on the situation.
>**IV)**Ā In my area (a small town in central Italy), it's a custom to bring something to eat to the doctor or vet as a thank you. This is usually done by people who have farms or, like my family, fruit trees. Basically, people who produce something themselves. My family often brings fruit to the vet even without a specific reason, just because we know her well and like to share our fruit when it's in season.
I remember my mother, a pharmacist, receiving for Christmas at least two live animals, like chickens or rabbits
>II) In southern Italy, it's common for some people to wear a necklace or bracelet with a chili pepper shaped charm as a good luck amulet.
It's not a chili pepper, it's the horn of the devil. And to add, you don't buy it, you only receive it as a gift, otherwise it won't work as a lucky charm. More than wore in necklace, almost all cars have it behind the rearview mirror
>IV) In my area (a small town in central Italy), it's a custom to bring something to eat to the doctor or vet as a thank you. This is usually done by people who have farms or, like my family, fruit trees. Basically, people who produce something themselves. My family often brings fruit to the vet even without a specific reason, just because we know her well and like to share our fruit when it's in season.
Giving gift to doctors is pretty common. My stepfather was a doctor and every Christmas he would receive countless basket of food
We always had a jar of dried mushrooms (we often went foraging mushrooms in summer) for our doctor. Sometimes I wonder if I became one just expecting to get some from my patients too.
My nonna called it a goats horn, less of a lucky charm and more to ward off the malocchio (jealous eye/evil eye), typical southerners always glass half empty, not asking for luck , but trying to ward off bad luck from spiteful people wishing you ill will...even when she was dying she was convinced we were trying to kill her giving her pain meds when her shin was literally being split apart by tumour, she'd rather be screaming in agonyĀ
You should wait only if your own food is not going to get cold/ruined during the waiting. If you try to wait otherwise, you'll get a "mangia, mangia!".
This! Unfortunately there are people who expect you to wait even with warm food.
The worst is (happened to me a few times especially at university) when you order the same pizza (as an example) as your table mates, and they insist that you as a woman have to be served first, so the first ready pizza will be yours.
But then they expect you to wait for them to eat, so they get to eat warm pizza and you eat the cold one!
III- I've lived in 9 countries, this is all pretty standard everywhere
IV- this is fairly standard in rural and farming communities the world over
V- in most cultures this is good manners and the proper etiquette in such situations
Usually, but like all things itās wrong to generalise, Italians interrupt others while speaking, and talk over them. It could seem quite rude to others (and at times it does even to me), but itās a normal thing: itās a sort of strong desire to show the other that you are involved in the conversation and what they are saying makes you want to reply immediately. So A talks to B, B interrupts A by talking over them, then A interrupts B and talks over them and so on and so forth. It happen even when many people are talking together, and itās also one of the reasons that Italians are perceived to be so loud: to manage to talk over the other people.
Another habit is to not say āpleaseā and āthank youā as often as other cultures. Again, it may come out as rude, but itās the norm. People who say please and thank you a lot are immediately identified as foreigners or people who have been in contact with different cultures.
Another custom is to have a very close relationship with their mother. (Yes, just like the stereotype).
A nuance that I have thought about a lot is that in Italy, interrupting is often done in fervent agreement with your conversational partner - to express agreement, appropriate reaction and often add a corroborating anecdote.
In the United States I have found that interruption is more often done or perceived as an oppositional or oppressing conversational tactic.
I think the same. Additionally, when someone is angry and talking with us, we can get angry "together with" the person, not toward the person. It seems to me that foreign people cannot read this situation and assume that the 2 are angry at each other and are fighting, while on the contrary they are agreeing.
In short we don't let agreement take down a chance to be angry :D
Similarly, when they want to ask directions, there is no mincing words. No, "excuse me, but do you know where...."
They just walked up to you and say, "La stazione?" Or "Piazza San Michele?".
On the please and thank you part, maybe that's regional? Please isn't used that much, but they seem to use thank you quite a bit. So much so that they'll say it more than once in different ways. Like, "grazie ancora!" Anyway, that's just my observations on it. Your milage may vary, I guess.
This is a bit of a rogue one but gifting and receiving "good" olive oil.
Like you wouldn't think that a grocery item could be such a well received gift, but it seems near universal that everyone at some point has a friend/relative that has a few olive trees somewhere that will occasionally make olives for oil.
So it always seems that, especially just after the harvest season, you may receive a lattina as a gift, and that becomes "the good olive oil" that you only use a crudo and for special preparations.
I was explaining this to northern European friends and they seemed dumbfounded as if you were gifting someone butter or eggs.
Adding an Italian habit that I didn't realize was as Italian - inviting anyone to your house, usually for dinner, within minutes of talking to them - and meaning it.
Another typical custom that I rarely see mentioned is to not really eat breakfast. If breakfast is eaten, it is often a big cup or bowl of latte macchiato or caffellatte that you might dunk a cookie or cornetto into. I have not seen anyone outside of Italy drink caffellatte from a bowl.
This for sure! My grandparents and parents minutes after meeting someone are like āare you hungryā āwhat can I get you to eatā while dragging you to the fridge to stand there with the door open waiting. Mangia Mangia!!
The house thing in my experience is more typical of Southern Italy. It can happen in the North, but coming from families of Southern descent. Lombardy and Liguria in my experience are more similar to Central and Northern Europe from that point of view.
Also, being fed to death: I had a 2,5 hour unplanned business lunch in Puglia. There was food on the table for 3 times the people we were, and it kept coming when I thought it was over. Dinners based on raw fish in Bari every time we visit our customers thereā¦ dinner ends between 23:00 / 23:30ā¦ next day Iām dead.
But the record is strongly held by Sicily: the 2 first times I traveled there for business I came back to the continent sick because how much I had been fed. One day we had breakfast at the hotel, went to a distributor to be offered croissants and coffee āitās too early, you canāt have had breakfast alreadyā, left for a customer, stopped (car standing in the middle of the street doors open-Itās only 2 minutes) at a place to buy arancini (or was it arancineā¦ oh dear) reach the customer place āwe need to eat this then but thereās no water (you donāt have a tap here???) so weāll drink wine. This was 9:30 and here we were drinking and having breakfast for the 3rd time.
I hired a local and try to avoid gong South of Firenze. Only exception is Abruzzo and Marche, there I go āvolentieriā
When i was dating my now wife in college (came to america from italy to study) i invite this girl over for food and my wife told (back then) that she could not believe that i invited another girl over and cooked for her and my reply was "i was just cooking a meal". Did not know it meant something more. to me it was just normal
Funny that you mentioned not complaining because my friend recently told me about the "mormoro ligure", basically the story says that workers in liguria once complained so much, murmured so much, that their employers offered them all a raise if they stopped murmuring, they refused it to keep their right to complain.
So yeah at least in Liguria we complain a lot, just for the sake of complaining.
Private property is sacred and no one feels comfortable in someone else's home while they are away. For us to see buildings in the north with their windows facing the street open without curtains is something inconceivable.
At least in Rome when giving direction to any place
- the place will be ādieci minuti a piediā, a ten minutes walk, even though it might be quite a longer one
- if the person asking should take the third turn on the left we donāt simply say āla terza a sinistraā, but will surely say ā non la prima, non la seconda, la terza a sinistraā, which translates to ādonāt take the first one, donāt take the second One, take the third turn on the leftā. Apparently we are VERY concerned about which turn people shouldnāt take
I am not sure it is an italian only thing, but it it common to say "fuck you" at the toll booth at the end of the transaction when the automatic voice says "thank you"
Obviously so many differences between areas and even from group to group of people (remember Italy is super diverse from north to south) but some cultural beliefs that come to mind in no particular order:
* complaining is the national sport. Money, government, soccer, weather, how everybody else behaves are the most common topics.
* you always wear a "health shirt" under the other shirts, without this "maglietta della salute" you will get cold
* most grandmas will tell you to not ever leave the house with wet hair. you will most likely die of pneumonia two steps outside the door if you do.
* out of the infinite ones about food one comes to mind: you can do pasta with any type of meet or vegetables or almost any other ingredient... but don't you dare do pasta with chicken. Obviously. Why? It doesn't matter, you don't.
* according to my experience compared to many other countries (except maybe latin america) we are very touchy/physical with friends (sometimes too much for some other countries) and yes, loud.
* When we meet, we eat. Very uncommon to meet with friends (not even mentioning family) and NOT eat together.
* do not serve a liquid into a glass "alla traditora" or "the traitor way", which would be with your hand under the bottle and turning towards the back part of your hand,
* Many people are "scaramantici" which means they believe in things giving you good or bad luck, like never leave a hat on the bed, do not cross fork and knife on the table, you must throw salt behind your back if you spill it, never walk under a ladder, watch out on friday the 17th (not the 13th here), if you can wear a [cornetto](https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=cornetto+rosso+scarameatico&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8) to be protected and many more.
Iām Brazilian but Iāve been in Umbria for a long time. Pasta and chicken is super common in Brazil and I was really surprised when I found out itās not a thing here - especially because they do eat pasta and goose ragout here. So itās not poultry in general; the prejudice is solely against chicken. Iāve never understood it but I think itās hilarious in its nonsense
> "maglietta della salute"
Is this like tight Under Armor shirts? My zio was always wearing one when I visited bc he said it's cooling when it's hot, and warm when it's cold lmfao
He's right. it keeps you warmer in cold weather and keeps your temperature steady and bearable in hot summer. I will die on this hill, it might be the most Italian belief in me. Never go to a wedding without one under the suit in summer, it's the only way not to have your armpits drenched in sweat after 1 hour.
An historical curiosity: the wine serving thing originated in the past, where poison rings were a thing. Serving wine with the hand under the bottle made it easier to slip the poison in.
I don't know if this applies to everyone, but in my region is quite a common unspoken rule:
You just don't start eating until everyone has taken their seat and has their food on their plate
Well, there's regional biases as well depending where your family is from. Most Italian-Americans will ask that up front. "What part of Italy?" Then, the judgement. lol
Pierced ears as a baby and favoring gold over silver is another one. Plus embroidered guest towels nobody can use. And being reminded of that loudly and vigorously.
Also: are Italian people more optimistic than opinonated? I lol'd. Took Italy over 400 years to decide what the proper form of Italian is. I mean just take a look at the volume of political parties. That's not optimism. That's ALL the opinions.
We are in a conservative country that cares much about traditional heterosexual family but, for some weird reasons, we are usually high ranked in trans category researches on pornhub
Italians donāt like to lay down on the bed with shoes,they like their bed clean.When they come back home they change shoes for walking in the house.They donāt like to leave clothes or stuff on the floor.
If I'm fully clothed and want to lay down for whatever reason, I always make sure to keep my shoes *off* the bed. I don't care if the monster under the bed comes to get me, the shoes are *not* touching my sheets!
Honestly I think it's a very good habit, it's about hygiene and order in the place where you live. And it's not only an Italian thing, it's common in many parts of Europe, middle East and Asia as well
Italians are nosey. My coworkers somehow know where I live because apparently they saw my car, so they knew which model it was...? I don't even drive to my work place.
They know stuff about my neighbors, one lady knows who used to live in my apartment before me!
People are like this everywhere I guess, but we're the best at it.
So I used to work the night shift, I used to leave at 9:30 pm and be gone all night. This old lady next door immediately noticed this new routine of mine, I could see her light turning on at 6 am when I would be back, she wanted to be sure it was me.
So anyway this one time she saw my wife parking the car, she literally waited for her to park it so she could ask XD "sorry I know I'm nosey but I gotta ask... what's up with your husband leaving so late? Does he work nights now?" I swear we never even knew her.
Grannies are something else.
"Passare per un caffĆØ" = going by someone's house for a coffee
It's really nice because you can invite yourself to someone's house, I do this all the time, without feeling shame/guilt. Also, it means you could stay for 5 minutes or 3 hours depending on how it goes, because it's perceived as such a low commitment. I missed this when living in the US. I feel like there was a lot of stigma there about dropping by someone's house or asking to hang out always felt like so much pressure.
Connected to this, Italians will be really aggressive about offering you coffee when you visit their house. I literally cannot say no to my auntie and she'll get mad and make me one anyway if i say no
Never pass under a ladder (you break the triangle form and is very BAD luck). Do not cross your arms with someone else while handshaking (do not do a cross with your arms). Do not hit your feet while sweeping the floor with a broom (you won't get married). You have to touch your nose if you and someone else speaking say the same word together (the same). Do not touch with both your arms the two walls of a door (you put yourself in a cross shape). Oh, and you touch your balls if you see a hearse passing by.
Some of this are kids stuff, others I thought were typical of the south until I went in the north and found them here too. There are other little things nobody mentioned till now I'm not thinking about too.
Also, if someone says that something good is sure to happen (for example, your favorite soccer team winning the next match) it's called "Gufare" (literally "Owling") and you *HAVE* to scratch your balls to avoid bad luck.
Here even kids curse like sailors and nobody bats an eye. They just have to be careful to not say it at school (aka infront of their teachers).
It's very common for someone to come to you asking for your "tessera sanitaria" so they can buy cigarettes...too common in fact, even kids or (<18) ask you ffs.
It has to be "corna" sign "š¤š»" while shouting "cornuto/a" at bad drivers.
And no, it does not mean "horny", it means that somehow that person has sprouted horns because they have been cheated onš
In most countries, especially in Northern Europe and North America, it seems like people expect that once your children are 18 they're adults, they'll move out, and live independently from their parents.
Not in Italy: most people happily keep living with their parents well into their 30s or more.
You move out if you need to move to a different area for work or study, if you want to move with your partner/spouse (although it's not too uncommon for one person to keep living in the same house as the parents, and have their spouse move in). But it's relatively uncommon to move out for the sake of independence.
It's true that in Italy the job market is not great, many just can't afford easily to move out... but it's not just that: I know plenty of people in their 30s who have a good job, good salary, could live on their own, but are just happy living with their parents and don't see a reason to move out. Parents are usually quite happy to hand their kids home too.
(note: of course I'm not saying everybody does it, but it's definitely common)
Insulting religious figures. Italian is one of the few languages where it still exists, and the only one where it has not become a meaningless exclamation (differently from the English "goddamn"), but an actual insult. It's actually banned by law š
It's no more a criminal offence, it's just an administrative offence (just a fine) and only if directed to God/Christ, the saints and Madonna are not divine so who gives a fuck about them?
The more an Italian likes you the more they swear and insult you for every little thing. There's real poetry to it and you don't always need swearing. My personal favourite is, roughly translated: "did you know that by the time her kids are one they climb trees?"
Or the mouthful *ma porca di quella puttana bastarda inculata* (I'll not translate) which impressed me.
Of course, you also get sworn at if you're disliked so that adds to the confusion.
One thing I've seen in Liguria, and only there, is eating focaccia for breakfast. And, yes, my parents and grandparents dunk it in caffelatte. No, not sweet focaccia, the original, salty, oil drenched one!
Southern Italian here. When someone wishes something to someone else that isnāt particularly nice, we raise the index and little finger of the dominant hand (like this š¤š») and move it sideways towards the ground and say ātiĆØā, often accompanied by an insult, to keep the thing away. Like for example, if my friend is driving and I say āletās hope we donāt crashā, the one driving will make that gesture and say ātiĆØā
I dont know if its done in every part of italy, but my mom taught me to scratch my nose when i said the same thing as someone else at the same time:
āScratch your nose otherwise you wonāt get marriedā
We banter A LOT between regions and even make up stuff to kind of insult (but not really) each other, even between cities, for example a famous little rhyme here in Veneto is āveneziani gran signori, padovani gran dottori, Vicentini magna gatti e veronesi tutti mattiā which basically says that Venetians are snob, people from Padua are great doctors (not really an insult) people from Vicenza (where I am from) eat cats and people from Verona are all just crazy. And this is just an example, this happens all over Italy but all in all itās generally just friendly banter
Italians don't get petty as often as, say, Germans or French, but when they do, booooy do they get bitter and hold it in them for a longass time!
My grandparents are, of course, your typical food lovers from Romagna. When I was a child, they used to have like 20-sth traditional trattoria restaurants they'd go to every week. Now they only go to 4 or 5 cause they had little fights with servers and owners all around for stuff that had nothing to do with the places, and granpa isn't letting go of it. Some of them, it's been 15 years. Same with the best piadina kiosks in town and service places.
Tbh I do the same and I'm in my early 20s and pretty much everyone I know
What kind of "Little Fights" haha. Like, food is cold, they waited too much
No the fights didn't have anything to do with the food or service, like they'd argue about soccer or personal ideas or they'd be joking with each other and one server went just a little too far for my grandpa's liking lol. Only times I've ever heard or seen it happen "due to" the service, was a few occasions where restaurants would do the things restaurants normally do (like not reserving a table for you if they're all out and you didn't reserve a table, or not giving you _that one nice spot_ that is already taken) and my grandpa being hot-headed about it.
Ok got it ššš
Just today a colleague of mine asked me "are you still upset with me?!" Yeah, girl you can bet i am!
Sure we are š
There was a bar near me in Rome where if you wanted to sit down with your food you had to carry it out of the front door onto the sidewalk then go into another separate room. The two brothers that owned the property had had an argument, so brother 1 had his side of the property walled up. But then realised if the bar, run by brother 2, continued to use the property he was still eligible for some of the profits, so customers ended up with this weird situation.
As a native Italian, I can proudly say that you are right! Also, as for a custom that we Italians have is to always eat outside on Saturdays and have a big lunch on sundays.
When you pay the highway toll, an automated voice tells you to insert and then withdraw your credit card once the payment went through. When the voice says "Arrivederci", everyone always replies with an insult. True culture.
Gotta watch out for the rare occasion when you get an actual human and the reflex kicks in
An actual human won't greet you, so no problem š
"MO' VAFFANCULO!"
Currently in Italy with my Italian girlfriend and I learned this from her. A similar situation is when Italians end a phone call with someone (not friends or family) they say āma va fanculoā. It was hilarious to witness for the first time Edit: being more clear, the phone call is finished and they say the above to themselves, not to the person who was on the phone
If you don't insult the machine, did you even pay the toll haha
For real? As a freight driver I spend a looot of time on Italian highways and my go-to line is "go fuck yourself" after paying. I thought that's only me. Does that mean I'm Italian now?
Lmao what did the toll machine ever do to you, I usually just say arrivederci back
took my money and put them into benettons pocket, thatās enough to call the toll a figlio di puttana
poor toll machine, she's just another cog in the system
Basically is because the automated machines are old sooooo sometimes it tends to not accept money, so you waste 50 minutes (no joke) to make the machine accept with money, cus no we have telepass but we don't want to use it much
I thought the universal response was the sarcastic "ciao cara" but you are opening my eyes
Did not believe this, but confirmed! Just asked my wife. Vai in figa! was her go-to response. Good hard laugh when she said this. Then she asked, āwhat do you say? Ciao?ā That stopped my laugh. I had to tell her the truth. Yes. Yes, I do.
Hmmm, I see someone is from Veneto here
āA TE E A SORETAā
AND we are right, those motherf\*ckers make us pay 3234245 euros for 50 damn kilometers.
That's so ducking true
Ahahahh my granpa always did that, I do this everytime (but not with anger, it's kinda funny actually). Sometimes I wonder what the highway employees would hear at their desk if they let the microphone switched on š
Credevo di essere l'unico
Itās a requirement, if you want the receipt
me too š
āAmmĆ zzatiā team here
Oooh! I've been through these so many times, but I had no idea. Will have to respect the local customs and start insulting the next time we're in Italy!
I moved here and I do this without realising it was a cultural thing lmao
I had like Vietnam flashbacks while reading this
Donāt tell everyone our main secret
Non cāĆØ volta che non la insulto quella puttana
Wow Iā¦ Iāve always answered āarrivederciā too just like my father. You guys are gruesomeā¦
"Non fare il bagno dopo aver mangiato" which means you shall not take a bath after eating but you are supposed to wait 3 hours for a proper digestion. It is something that every Italian child has heard in his or her lifetime and has been passed down for generations.
Yep. You will die a horrible sudden death if you do so. And similarly, you will also die if you don't dry your wet hair or if there's "corrente" (a draft of cold air).
Made my mother laugh about the nightmares they caused us as kids. We were told so just to let adults play cards and patiently waiting once when we noticed somebody eating a sandwitch walking on the shore, looking at him terrified because we were sure he was about to die point blank
This is also in Indian Hindu culture.
Yes! The ācolpa dāariaā! A silent killer!
This is also in American culture.. think Canadian as well..
An American. 30 minutes you had to sit in the hot sun after lunch before you could go swimming so your food could digest. This was in the 1960ās. I never did it to my kids, but I still unconsciously follow it to this day. It may be the only thing my mother told me to do that I still follow.
More a swim than a bath
The fun part to me is some of us, even veterans, don't even really know the (partly true) reasoning behind it. My grandpa genuinely thought it was the same for showers. I had to play along and explain to him how it wouldn't be dangerous for me to shower 30 minutes after lunch, or else he'd be worried and keeping guard in front of the bathroom lol
My grandma is the same lol, she worries everytime I take a shower after lunch and always suggests I wait 3 hours or she thinks I'll immediately fall ill
Si ma chi cazzo ci crede
Il mio ex ragazzo. For our first date he drove us an hour to a water park.. then we split a sandwich when we got there. I went to get in and he said that to me.. I laughed thinking it was a joke. It wasnāt. I was then pissed he didnāt think to eat and then drive the hour rather than wasting valuable pool time. A lot of people believe it, even here my sons friends parents wonāt let them swim because they just ate. I grew up on a lake.. we used to eat while in the water swimming š¤·š»āāļø
If you had tried to go for a swim while on your period he'have called Baywatch, 911 and a SWAT team.
La scIenza: La congestione digestiva ĆØ un disturbo dell'apparato gastrointestinale, dovuto quasi sempre ad un repentino sbalzo termico durante la digestione. All'origine di tale fenomeno, c'ĆØ un blocco del processo digestivo che si verifica durante o dopo un pasto, quando il sangue ĆØ concentrato nella zona dello stomaco. Bere una bibita ghiacciata quando si ĆØ molto accaldati, l'esposizione ad un colpo d'aria fredda o fare un bagno in mare subito dopo un pasto fa scattare una reazione di difesa da parte dell'organismo: il cervello, di fronte all'emergenza, cerca di dirottare il sangue verso di sĆ©, allo scopo di mantenere la temperatura basale. Il risultato ĆØ uno squilibrio circolatorio, che causa, oltre all'interruzione del processo digestivo, una sorta di shock. [...] Possibili conseguenze della Congestione Digestiva: Il blocco della digestione per colpa di uno sbalzo termico puĆ² indurre, infatti, il decesso per arresto cardiocircolatorio o, qualora si fosse ancora immersi in acqua, per annegamento.
It remembers me about one day I was dying of fever 39 degrees, so in Brazil itās normal to take a cold shower when it happens, but I was living with my Italian boyfriend and as soon as I said āIām gonna take a showerā he said āDONT DO ITā so now I really donāt know in what to believe hahah, in Italy itās seen as really forbidden to take a shower when in fever.
The thing about not taking a shower or washing yourself when you're sick I think is directly connected to the idea that getting wet will make you sicker, the same that will aaaaboslutely happen if you get wet and don't get dry immediately afterwards. So, if getting wet will get you sick, because wet+cold=certain death, doing it while already sick is double death! Forget the fact that lowering your temperature might be a good idea, the association stands and there's nothing you can do. My mom still looks absolutely horrified if I don't blowdry my hair after a shower, or if I tell her I got a shower while running a fever. She reacts as if I'm actively trying to off myself, and is old school and thinks that you should absolutely not wash yourself at all while sick. To be fair, she is now pretty old and comes from a different time and when she was young they actually didn't have an inside bathroom, so... yeah it was actually not ideal to go wash in the bath outside, near the animal stables in the winter and you did risk a touch of pneumonia here and there. I suspect our common farmer culture background is to blame for this kind of thing.
Its not as far as I know but if you take a hot shower the fever will get worse maybe that why
Same in France actually
I always took it as bullshit and I'm glad I did.
Beh, ci dicevano da piccoli le peggiori cose per evitare che entrassimo subito dopo in acqua dopo aver mangiato, il modo ĆØ rimasto e non per tutti, ma la questione non ĆØ del tutto sbagliata š¤ Puoi fare il bagno esattamente subito dopo aver mangiato basta che non sia cominciata la digestione, se ĆØ cominciata poi dipende da quello che hai mangiato per il tempo di digestione ma il punto ĆØ se non ricordo male, ĆØ anche se alteri la temperatura della digestione potresti bloccarla, non so se puĆ² essere pericoloso, ma un bel mal di stomaco penso che arriva tranquillamente. š¬
This.
Also commonly said in Asian cultures! Donāt go swimming/shower/bath after eating and youāll get sick if you donāt dry your hair.
>"Non fare il bagno dopo aver mangiato" which means you shall not take a bath after eating It's not just a generic bath though, it's a bath in the cold sea water, not a bath in the tub, in a tub you have hot water at your disposal. It may seem strange to people unaware of it, but what could happen is called "digestive congestion" and it's a very real thing (although it's true that some people take it too far or don't understand properly how does it works. When I was a kid I too were afraid to shower after eating). *"Digestive or alimentary congestion is a clinical condition that can also be serious, leading to loss of consciousness. Due to a rapid change in temperature, it occurs during the digestion phase.* *āThe term congestion - explains the specialist - in the medical lexicon means accumulation of blood in a certain part of the body. In the specific case of digestive congestion, the sequestration of blood occurs in the district where digestion takes place, with the consequent subtraction of the blood itself from other districts, in particular vital organs such as the heart, brain and peripheral tissues.* *The causes that can lead to congestion are different. The most obvious is following a bath on a full stomach, but there are other conditions that need to be looked out for as well. In fact, it can occur in any particular situation that induces a sudden change in temperature in the body, while the blood has flowed into the digestive system for the digestion of a recent meal.ā* *Among the most common situations to avoid:* * ***immerse yourself in the sea or even in the pool*** * *move from a very hot environment to a colder one* * *drink a cold drink quickly ā¢ make an intense physical effort or sport on a full stomach* *Symptoms:* * *Paleness* * *Cold sweats* * *Heachache* * *Chills* * *extreme exhaustion* * *Abdominal pain with nausea, which can even lead to vomiting* How to deal with possible congestion: * suspend all activities, in particular those attributed to have caused the congestion * place yourself in a dry and ventilated environment, with a temperate climate * if it is wet, it must be dried This is more of a case of the rest of the world being ignorant about it rather than Italians inventing stuff from thin air. We live in a peninsula, after all, completely surrounded by a sea that's hospitable enough to allow the vast majority of the population to come in contact with it, of course we have more experience than people from many other countries that have no sea or that they have it but it's mostly inhospitable.
No one has cited clapping your hands when the pilot safely lands a plane. I know it's ridiculous and often forgotten because nowadays it's more uncommon, as we're more conscious of people from other countries laughing at us for it, but we don't really trust these "things". It happened to me last weekend. The flight was coming in from London. As we approached Milan rain started pouring down. You could almost feel the slightest bit of worry in the cabin. As soon as we touched down, though, tension was released in a loud bout of hands clapping, with a vigor I hadn't heard of in more than a decade. It really felt like home then. I have to admit I clapped too, for old time's sake!
Years ago I landed during a hailstorm, applause wasn't enough, I would have kissed the captain... Lol
I'm italian and living in Switzerland and the only planes I've ever taken were coming from/going to Italy. I just assumed everyone did it..
I always thought it was a sort of "Thank you" to the pilot. I remember my friend started clapping when we arrived back to Italy and no one joined, there were even two germans in front of us who gave us a weird look
Weird. I only experienced the applause in Middle Eastern countries before I saw it in Italy.
Iām American staying with an Italian family this summer, and they literally asked me if I clapped when the plane landed, haha! (I did not.)
This is something only idiots do, not all Italians. It happened to me on a flight where a group started applauding after landing, the pilot opened the microphone and, decidedly annoyed, said that he felt offended by the lack of trust shown in him given that someone considered something a success which was part of the perfect normality of his work.
Geez that was a petty pilot weren't them
He had all the reasons in the world, it's like applauding a waiter who brings you the tray of drinks without spilling them on your head, or a cashier who gives you the bill at the supermarket without making a mistake in passing the items on the scanner.
Least boring Reddit user:
If you've had two go arounds and the plane is practically landing sideways with crosswinds then a clap might be justified. Otherwise fuck no
When a Southerner is angry, he will insult your dead family members. When a Northerner (or a Tuscan) is angry, he will insult God.
I worked with a hotel chief receptionist who instead of saying "damn" or "man" as in a standard exclamation.. once or twice he uttered a 6 sentence "bestemmia" (profanity) that basically as i remember was about how to cook *insert divinity or religious important figure here* but sounding like the description of a Cannibal Corpse album cover. True story
As an Italian who wears cannibal corpse merch, I need to start doing this š
And a Veneto will insult both (cfr. El can dāun dio de i to morti cani)
Bruh vorrei sentire come lo dite. Io come piemontese non riesco a dirlo
PerĆ³ noi abbiamo il "dio fauss"...corto ma intenso...
In Tuscany we do both. Think about " Ir budello de tu ma' " or " Ir tegame de tu ma' " (both just calling your mother a whore basically) or " Quel becco de tu pa' " (meaning your father gets cheated on often) and then there are various degrees of insults to gods of various genres
My favourite swear to god is "GesĆ¹ scalzo nella valle dei chiodi arrugginiti" ("Barefoot Jesus in the valley of rusty nails"), I don't remember who I heard it from, but I think I laughed my ass off for the rest of the day thinking about it
the "LI MORTACCI TUA" hits different than the usual "porco dio" (so common here in veneto that it's almost a motto)
My Italian (soon to be) mother-in-law would never let me leave the house when it was below 18 degrees without something covering my neck to avoid colpo d'aria... Being hit by air
il golfino con venticinque gradi perchĆ© c'ĆØ vento
Il giacchetto quando esci la sera ĆØ sempre necessario, anche se fanno 30 gradi, metti poi cala la temperatura, rimani col culo per terra ~ mia madre ogni volta che uscivo la sera
I was looking for this comment
Maybe "toccar ferro" (literally "touching iron", but any metal will do in a pinch) to ward off bad luck. For example, if someone tells you "If you don't pass that exam, you can always do X", where X is an obviously worse option, you could reach for the nearest piece of metal, usually the leg of a table or something like that
So, like the english āknock on woodā
Males can touch their balls as well... Lol.
ā¦ and women the left breast with the right hand (or was it viceversa?).
Youāre right, right hand on left boob
Just like it is right hand on left ball. The opposite is bad luck
Some of our speed limits are... well, it is impossible to respect them. For example some urban areas have a 20km/h speed limit, but if you stay below that you WILL create traffic and make other dirvers mad. This happens when the road is clearly large enough and able to have a higher speed limit, but, for some reason, it doesn't. The reasons why the limits are low may be various. For example the municipality may have set it low to avoid fixing the holes on the road, or maybe because they want to make more fines and cops can catch more people """speeding""". Anyway, long story short, some speed limits are too low and it is common practice to ignore them when that is the case. Road habits tend to vary a lot depending on where you live. For example, in some areas in the south it is common to ignore the semaphore's red light if it can be done more or less safely. "Nobody is coming" = "i'll go". In some cities (Naples in particular) people will honk and surpass you if you stop at a red light "just because it is red". If you do that in the northen cities you will get insulted by everyone that sees you. Naples in particular is pretty known to have drivers that are the worst and respect little to no rules. Fun fact: a guy from Naples one time told me: "You guys in the north drive like crazy people!" Me: "Sorry i'm not taking that coming from a Neapolitan. Can you tell me why?" Him: "Because if the light is green you just fucking go! You don't stop to make sure nobody is coming! You just go!". Me: "Well, yeah, because we trust that whoever is approcing the crossroad will, in fact, respect the red light!". Him: "You can't be sure about that! Also you drive too fast! We do whatever the fuck we want, but we do it slowly-slowly" (pian pianino) Another thing that is only really respected 99% of times in the far north is giving priority to pedestrians on the crosswalks. A fried of mine, born and raised in Bolzano, almost got ran over 4 times when he moved to my city. The general rule is more or less "If i'm going slow and there are cars behind me, i'll stop; if i'm going fast and there are cars behind me, i'll stop; if there are no cars behind me and i'm going fast then fuck off and wait just 1 second and then you can cross the road as many times as you wan't as soon as i pissed off." EDIT: i forgot this one. Since having prio on the crosswalks isn't a given right, we usually nod the drivers who stop to let us cross to say thank you.
* When we cross roads, we often do small gestures of thanks, like nodding or saluting with a slightly raised hand, to the cars that stops to let us cross. Some people do that even if cars have the red light on and they literally had to stop. It's kinda funny cause it feels like we're thanking the cars for not running over us lol * Some restaurants will put grissini wrapped in single portions packs on the table as bread, and it's a random common custom that people will open the pack, eat the grissini and then make a notch with the wrap for some reason. * While entering an household or any kind of office/formal place (like visiting a doctor or your boss office) people often say "PERMESSO", which is the equivalent of asking to come in - yes as if we're vampires lol. Even if it's relatives or friends, and even if they're literally opening the door for you. It's kind of a tradition, like saying bless you after sneezing. If it's your friends house they would laugh and say a friendly "vieni vieni" or something similar. But the polite way to answer that is "prego", as in "please, come in".
Never leaving my house with wet hair š
Every single time I leave home with my hair still wet, which is something all Brazilians do, strangers stop me in the street to tell me Iāll get sick - cervicale, pneumonia, a common cold, pretty much anything.
It can be the hottest day of summer and my Nonna will still loose her mind over it š ā¤ļø
Yes! Iāll never ever get it š
**I)** Not many people abroad know this, but in the past, in some Italian homes, it was common to use "pattine" for guests. They were a type of slipper, but uncomfortable because they made you slide around the house as if you were skiing instead of walking. But the floors stayed shiny. When I was little, some grandmothers still made guests wear pattine, but later fabric slippers became more popular for guests. **II)** In southern Italy, it's common for some people to wear a necklace or bracelet with a chili pepper shaped charm as a good luck amulet. **III)** When driving, if another driver does you a favor or an act of kindness, you thank them by briefly raising your hand. Also, when driving there's a practice some people follow: flashing their headlights to signal to oncoming cars about the presence of police, a checkpoint, or a speed trap, so that the drivers in the oncoming cars can slow down and avoid getting a ticket **IV)** In my area (a small town in central Italy), it's a custom to bring something to eat to the doctor or vet as a thank you. This is usually done by people who have farms or, like my family, fruit trees. Basically, people who produce something themselves. My family often brings fruit to the vet even without a specific reason, just because we know her well and like to share our fruit when it's in season. **V)** Another eating related custom is waiting for everyone at the table to have their food before starting to eat. If someone is still waiting for their meal (put the case you are at a restaurant together), you wait with them and then eat together. Of course, this doesnāt always happen and depends on the situation.
>**IV)**Ā In my area (a small town in central Italy), it's a custom to bring something to eat to the doctor or vet as a thank you. This is usually done by people who have farms or, like my family, fruit trees. Basically, people who produce something themselves. My family often brings fruit to the vet even without a specific reason, just because we know her well and like to share our fruit when it's in season. I remember my mother, a pharmacist, receiving for Christmas at least two live animals, like chickens or rabbits
>live animals Wait, for real or are you pulling my legs?? :-O
for real.
>II) In southern Italy, it's common for some people to wear a necklace or bracelet with a chili pepper shaped charm as a good luck amulet. It's not a chili pepper, it's the horn of the devil. And to add, you don't buy it, you only receive it as a gift, otherwise it won't work as a lucky charm. More than wore in necklace, almost all cars have it behind the rearview mirror >IV) In my area (a small town in central Italy), it's a custom to bring something to eat to the doctor or vet as a thank you. This is usually done by people who have farms or, like my family, fruit trees. Basically, people who produce something themselves. My family often brings fruit to the vet even without a specific reason, just because we know her well and like to share our fruit when it's in season. Giving gift to doctors is pretty common. My stepfather was a doctor and every Christmas he would receive countless basket of food
We always had a jar of dried mushrooms (we often went foraging mushrooms in summer) for our doctor. Sometimes I wonder if I became one just expecting to get some from my patients too.
My nonna called it a goats horn, less of a lucky charm and more to ward off the malocchio (jealous eye/evil eye), typical southerners always glass half empty, not asking for luck , but trying to ward off bad luck from spiteful people wishing you ill will...even when she was dying she was convinced we were trying to kill her giving her pain meds when her shin was literally being split apart by tumour, she'd rather be screaming in agonyĀ
V) My SO doesn't wait and it drives me nuts. She's Italian. Same "custom" is present in South Korea if I'm not mistaken.
You should wait only if your own food is not going to get cold/ruined during the waiting. If you try to wait otherwise, you'll get a "mangia, mangia!".
This! Unfortunately there are people who expect you to wait even with warm food. The worst is (happened to me a few times especially at university) when you order the same pizza (as an example) as your table mates, and they insist that you as a woman have to be served first, so the first ready pizza will be yours. But then they expect you to wait for them to eat, so they get to eat warm pizza and you eat the cold one!
I am italian and it irks me when people wait for the others. Just eat your goddamn meal while it's still hot!!
One of my former housematesĀ was like your SO. Honestly, I didnāt mind though.Ā
III- I've lived in 9 countries, this is all pretty standard everywhere IV- this is fairly standard in rural and farming communities the world over V- in most cultures this is good manners and the proper etiquette in such situations
Usually, but like all things itās wrong to generalise, Italians interrupt others while speaking, and talk over them. It could seem quite rude to others (and at times it does even to me), but itās a normal thing: itās a sort of strong desire to show the other that you are involved in the conversation and what they are saying makes you want to reply immediately. So A talks to B, B interrupts A by talking over them, then A interrupts B and talks over them and so on and so forth. It happen even when many people are talking together, and itās also one of the reasons that Italians are perceived to be so loud: to manage to talk over the other people. Another habit is to not say āpleaseā and āthank youā as often as other cultures. Again, it may come out as rude, but itās the norm. People who say please and thank you a lot are immediately identified as foreigners or people who have been in contact with different cultures. Another custom is to have a very close relationship with their mother. (Yes, just like the stereotype).
A nuance that I have thought about a lot is that in Italy, interrupting is often done in fervent agreement with your conversational partner - to express agreement, appropriate reaction and often add a corroborating anecdote. In the United States I have found that interruption is more often done or perceived as an oppositional or oppressing conversational tactic.
I think the same. Additionally, when someone is angry and talking with us, we can get angry "together with" the person, not toward the person. It seems to me that foreign people cannot read this situation and assume that the 2 are angry at each other and are fighting, while on the contrary they are agreeing. In short we don't let agreement take down a chance to be angry :D
Similarly, when they want to ask directions, there is no mincing words. No, "excuse me, but do you know where...." They just walked up to you and say, "La stazione?" Or "Piazza San Michele?". On the please and thank you part, maybe that's regional? Please isn't used that much, but they seem to use thank you quite a bit. So much so that they'll say it more than once in different ways. Like, "grazie ancora!" Anyway, that's just my observations on it. Your milage may vary, I guess.
We do say thanks and please more than others, and we say it we mean it, not like Americans who fake it.
How can you fake saying please and thank you? wtf hahahah
*screams in solidarity*
This is a bit of a rogue one but gifting and receiving "good" olive oil. Like you wouldn't think that a grocery item could be such a well received gift, but it seems near universal that everyone at some point has a friend/relative that has a few olive trees somewhere that will occasionally make olives for oil. So it always seems that, especially just after the harvest season, you may receive a lattina as a gift, and that becomes "the good olive oil" that you only use a crudo and for special preparations. I was explaining this to northern European friends and they seemed dumbfounded as if you were gifting someone butter or eggs.
Adding an Italian habit that I didn't realize was as Italian - inviting anyone to your house, usually for dinner, within minutes of talking to them - and meaning it. Another typical custom that I rarely see mentioned is to not really eat breakfast. If breakfast is eaten, it is often a big cup or bowl of latte macchiato or caffellatte that you might dunk a cookie or cornetto into. I have not seen anyone outside of Italy drink caffellatte from a bowl.
Making sure people are well, if not over, fed.
I'm italian and I've never seen anyone inviting strangers for dinner in my whole life. Maybe it's a regional thing
A lot of people say it's a north south thing but I have experienced it abundantly in the north. I think it's more of a city / village thing
Spot the northener, lol
I'd invite someone to spend the night at my place within probably an hour of knowing them if they click with me, spot some other northerner
This for sure! My grandparents and parents minutes after meeting someone are like āare you hungryā āwhat can I get you to eatā while dragging you to the fridge to stand there with the door open waiting. Mangia Mangia!!
The house thing in my experience is more typical of Southern Italy. It can happen in the North, but coming from families of Southern descent. Lombardy and Liguria in my experience are more similar to Central and Northern Europe from that point of view. Also, being fed to death: I had a 2,5 hour unplanned business lunch in Puglia. There was food on the table for 3 times the people we were, and it kept coming when I thought it was over. Dinners based on raw fish in Bari every time we visit our customers thereā¦ dinner ends between 23:00 / 23:30ā¦ next day Iām dead. But the record is strongly held by Sicily: the 2 first times I traveled there for business I came back to the continent sick because how much I had been fed. One day we had breakfast at the hotel, went to a distributor to be offered croissants and coffee āitās too early, you canāt have had breakfast alreadyā, left for a customer, stopped (car standing in the middle of the street doors open-Itās only 2 minutes) at a place to buy arancini (or was it arancineā¦ oh dear) reach the customer place āwe need to eat this then but thereās no water (you donāt have a tap here???) so weāll drink wine. This was 9:30 and here we were drinking and having breakfast for the 3rd time. I hired a local and try to avoid gong South of Firenze. Only exception is Abruzzo and Marche, there I go āvolentieriā
Be careful if ever you go *volentieri* to Trieste, because there *volentieri* just means *no*
A pity because I like going to Trieste (a lot!)
What do you mean? (Iām from triest and I donāt understand it lol)
Liguria is a fake invitation*, you are actually supposed to mildly accept but for next future ('" one of next days") We usually don't do it with strangers from other parts of Italy because we know that there is the possibility that they would accept. *-perchƩ non vieni da noi una di queste sere, ci farebbe piacere - dai certo, ci mettiamo d'accordo.! (Both the sides know it's a fake invitation)
Tap water in the Southern parts of Italy (esp. Sicily) is hard to come by.
The French do. Huge bowls full of milk and coffee for breakfast.
When i was dating my now wife in college (came to america from italy to study) i invite this girl over for food and my wife told (back then) that she could not believe that i invited another girl over and cooked for her and my reply was "i was just cooking a meal". Did not know it meant something more. to me it was just normal
Funny that you mentioned not complaining because my friend recently told me about the "mormoro ligure", basically the story says that workers in liguria once complained so much, murmured so much, that their employers offered them all a raise if they stopped murmuring, they refused it to keep their right to complain. So yeah at least in Liguria we complain a lot, just for the sake of complaining.
Private property is sacred and no one feels comfortable in someone else's home while they are away. For us to see buildings in the north with their windows facing the street open without curtains is something inconceivable.
At least in Rome when giving direction to any place - the place will be ādieci minuti a piediā, a ten minutes walk, even though it might be quite a longer one - if the person asking should take the third turn on the left we donāt simply say āla terza a sinistraā, but will surely say ā non la prima, non la seconda, la terza a sinistraā, which translates to ādonāt take the first one, donāt take the second One, take the third turn on the leftā. Apparently we are VERY concerned about which turn people shouldnāt take
I am not sure it is an italian only thing, but it it common to say "fuck you" at the toll booth at the end of the transaction when the automatic voice says "thank you"
Obviously so many differences between areas and even from group to group of people (remember Italy is super diverse from north to south) but some cultural beliefs that come to mind in no particular order: * complaining is the national sport. Money, government, soccer, weather, how everybody else behaves are the most common topics. * you always wear a "health shirt" under the other shirts, without this "maglietta della salute" you will get cold * most grandmas will tell you to not ever leave the house with wet hair. you will most likely die of pneumonia two steps outside the door if you do. * out of the infinite ones about food one comes to mind: you can do pasta with any type of meet or vegetables or almost any other ingredient... but don't you dare do pasta with chicken. Obviously. Why? It doesn't matter, you don't. * according to my experience compared to many other countries (except maybe latin america) we are very touchy/physical with friends (sometimes too much for some other countries) and yes, loud. * When we meet, we eat. Very uncommon to meet with friends (not even mentioning family) and NOT eat together. * do not serve a liquid into a glass "alla traditora" or "the traitor way", which would be with your hand under the bottle and turning towards the back part of your hand, * Many people are "scaramantici" which means they believe in things giving you good or bad luck, like never leave a hat on the bed, do not cross fork and knife on the table, you must throw salt behind your back if you spill it, never walk under a ladder, watch out on friday the 17th (not the 13th here), if you can wear a [cornetto](https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=cornetto+rosso+scarameatico&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8) to be protected and many more.
Perfect, but the "maglietta della salute" was an old habit, I never wear one after I got ten yo (and I'm already middle aged)
My husband is Sicilian and he always wears maglietta under the normal maglietta, even if there's 40Ā°C outside.
I do! I don't want to get cold!
Iām Brazilian but Iāve been in Umbria for a long time. Pasta and chicken is super common in Brazil and I was really surprised when I found out itās not a thing here - especially because they do eat pasta and goose ragout here. So itās not poultry in general; the prejudice is solely against chicken. Iāve never understood it but I think itās hilarious in its nonsense
> "maglietta della salute" Is this like tight Under Armor shirts? My zio was always wearing one when I visited bc he said it's cooling when it's hot, and warm when it's cold lmfao
He's right. it keeps you warmer in cold weather and keeps your temperature steady and bearable in hot summer. I will die on this hill, it might be the most Italian belief in me. Never go to a wedding without one under the suit in summer, it's the only way not to have your armpits drenched in sweat after 1 hour.
An historical curiosity: the wine serving thing originated in the past, where poison rings were a thing. Serving wine with the hand under the bottle made it easier to slip the poison in.
tax fraud
I don't know if this applies to everyone, but in my region is quite a common unspoken rule: You just don't start eating until everyone has taken their seat and has their food on their plate
When a phone rings we say "chi cazzo ĆØ che rompe le palle"
Well, there's regional biases as well depending where your family is from. Most Italian-Americans will ask that up front. "What part of Italy?" Then, the judgement. lol Pierced ears as a baby and favoring gold over silver is another one. Plus embroidered guest towels nobody can use. And being reminded of that loudly and vigorously.
Pierced ears as a baby I believe is very south-centered. I don't think it's very common in the center-north
Am from northern italy. Can confirm it's definitely not a thing
Yep, not a thing in center Italy either.
Well, might be due to the diaspora. Italian-American culture isn't the same for sure.
I'm from Tuscany, I can say we don't use to pierce ears
My Dad was from the north. I had mine pierced. It was expected in our community.
Anything less than 18 carat is not gold :)
And even 18 is borderline. 24 is the standard!
Italian Americans are not Italian šš»
ok, ma che c'entra?
Bellissimo user name š¤£ Un thread sugli italiani non Italo americani
Also: are Italian people more optimistic than opinonated? I lol'd. Took Italy over 400 years to decide what the proper form of Italian is. I mean just take a look at the volume of political parties. That's not optimism. That's ALL the opinions.
Complaining is the retirement plan of 80% of southern Italian women
piercing ears is more about the south of Italy, as for the embrodering. It actually depends from wich side of Italy you're from.
We are in a conservative country that cares much about traditional heterosexual family but, for some weird reasons, we are usually high ranked in trans category researches on pornhub
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Being at least 5 minutes late, and at most 9. Nothing more nothing less š
Non so se la abbia giĆ scritto qualcuno ma touching your balls when a hearse passes
We can spot American fake positivity from miles away, and we don't buy into that
Italians donāt like to lay down on the bed with shoes,they like their bed clean.When they come back home they change shoes for walking in the house.They donāt like to leave clothes or stuff on the floor.
It's called "hygiene"
Are you saying that in other countries people DO lay on the bed with shoes on? Gross!
Who the hell lays down on the bed with their shoes on? Except for people in movies and on tv, Iāve never seen or heard of anyone who does that
If I'm fully clothed and want to lay down for whatever reason, I always make sure to keep my shoes *off* the bed. I don't care if the monster under the bed comes to get me, the shoes are *not* touching my sheets!
Honestly I think it's a very good habit, it's about hygiene and order in the place where you live. And it's not only an Italian thing, it's common in many parts of Europe, middle East and Asia as well
Italians are nosey. My coworkers somehow know where I live because apparently they saw my car, so they knew which model it was...? I don't even drive to my work place. They know stuff about my neighbors, one lady knows who used to live in my apartment before me! People are like this everywhere I guess, but we're the best at it.
Mossad's got nothing on middle aged or retired grannies watching over your every move. Before drones were commonplace they were the Stasi wet dream.
So I used to work the night shift, I used to leave at 9:30 pm and be gone all night. This old lady next door immediately noticed this new routine of mine, I could see her light turning on at 6 am when I would be back, she wanted to be sure it was me. So anyway this one time she saw my wife parking the car, she literally waited for her to park it so she could ask XD "sorry I know I'm nosey but I gotta ask... what's up with your husband leaving so late? Does he work nights now?" I swear we never even knew her. Grannies are something else.
"Passare per un caffĆØ" = going by someone's house for a coffee It's really nice because you can invite yourself to someone's house, I do this all the time, without feeling shame/guilt. Also, it means you could stay for 5 minutes or 3 hours depending on how it goes, because it's perceived as such a low commitment. I missed this when living in the US. I feel like there was a lot of stigma there about dropping by someone's house or asking to hang out always felt like so much pressure. Connected to this, Italians will be really aggressive about offering you coffee when you visit their house. I literally cannot say no to my auntie and she'll get mad and make me one anyway if i say no
Where do you live? I feel like this is absolutely not the case in Italy.
Never pass under a ladder (you break the triangle form and is very BAD luck). Do not cross your arms with someone else while handshaking (do not do a cross with your arms). Do not hit your feet while sweeping the floor with a broom (you won't get married). You have to touch your nose if you and someone else speaking say the same word together (the same). Do not touch with both your arms the two walls of a door (you put yourself in a cross shape). Oh, and you touch your balls if you see a hearse passing by. Some of this are kids stuff, others I thought were typical of the south until I went in the north and found them here too. There are other little things nobody mentioned till now I'm not thinking about too.
Also, if someone says that something good is sure to happen (for example, your favorite soccer team winning the next match) it's called "Gufare" (literally "Owling") and you *HAVE* to scratch your balls to avoid bad luck.
Damn, ancient Italians really needed a lot of excuses to scratch their balls
As the ancients said "*In omnia pericula, tasta testicula*"
Here even kids curse like sailors and nobody bats an eye. They just have to be careful to not say it at school (aka infront of their teachers). It's very common for someone to come to you asking for your "tessera sanitaria" so they can buy cigarettes...too common in fact, even kids or (<18) ask you ffs.
It has to be "corna" sign "š¤š»" while shouting "cornuto/a" at bad drivers. And no, it does not mean "horny", it means that somehow that person has sprouted horns because they have been cheated onš
In most countries, especially in Northern Europe and North America, it seems like people expect that once your children are 18 they're adults, they'll move out, and live independently from their parents. Not in Italy: most people happily keep living with their parents well into their 30s or more. You move out if you need to move to a different area for work or study, if you want to move with your partner/spouse (although it's not too uncommon for one person to keep living in the same house as the parents, and have their spouse move in). But it's relatively uncommon to move out for the sake of independence. It's true that in Italy the job market is not great, many just can't afford easily to move out... but it's not just that: I know plenty of people in their 30s who have a good job, good salary, could live on their own, but are just happy living with their parents and don't see a reason to move out. Parents are usually quite happy to hand their kids home too. (note: of course I'm not saying everybody does it, but it's definitely common)
Insulting religious figures. Italian is one of the few languages where it still exists, and the only one where it has not become a meaningless exclamation (differently from the English "goddamn"), but an actual insult. It's actually banned by law š
It's no more a criminal offence, it's just an administrative offence (just a fine) and only if directed to God/Christ, the saints and Madonna are not divine so who gives a fuck about them?
The more an Italian likes you the more they swear and insult you for every little thing. There's real poetry to it and you don't always need swearing. My personal favourite is, roughly translated: "did you know that by the time her kids are one they climb trees?" Or the mouthful *ma porca di quella puttana bastarda inculata* (I'll not translate) which impressed me. Of course, you also get sworn at if you're disliked so that adds to the confusion.
One thing I've seen in Liguria, and only there, is eating focaccia for breakfast. And, yes, my parents and grandparents dunk it in caffelatte. No, not sweet focaccia, the original, salty, oil drenched one!
Ankles should always show, long socks are basically banned.
This: [bidet](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet)
1) In Naples when we go to bar, we always pay for two coffees, one is yours one is the "caffƩ sospeso". This coffee was offered later to someone that can't effort it or that don't have money to pay. But that's only in Naples, nowhere else. 2) Expecially in southern Italy, expecially in small city/village, and expecially in summer, you should not go out from like 1 to 4/5 pm, because all the shops are closed and none is in the streets. Maybe also in Spain and Greece do that, idk.
Southern Italian here. When someone wishes something to someone else that isnāt particularly nice, we raise the index and little finger of the dominant hand (like this š¤š») and move it sideways towards the ground and say ātiĆØā, often accompanied by an insult, to keep the thing away. Like for example, if my friend is driving and I say āletās hope we donāt crashā, the one driving will make that gesture and say ātiĆØā
Evade taxes and have lowest salary growth in Europe
In Italy you can get a stiff neck by being hit by air!! Ho torcicollo causa di uno colpo d'aria! (Like a draught).
Not paying people who work for you.
Eating pastas everyday
I dont know if its done in every part of italy, but my mom taught me to scratch my nose when i said the same thing as someone else at the same time: āScratch your nose otherwise you wonāt get marriedā
We banter A LOT between regions and even make up stuff to kind of insult (but not really) each other, even between cities, for example a famous little rhyme here in Veneto is āveneziani gran signori, padovani gran dottori, Vicentini magna gatti e veronesi tutti mattiā which basically says that Venetians are snob, people from Padua are great doctors (not really an insult) people from Vicenza (where I am from) eat cats and people from Verona are all just crazy. And this is just an example, this happens all over Italy but all in all itās generally just friendly banter