This question came up recently on one of the expats-in-Italy boards I hang out on (it had coincidentally already been on my mind): How do you make friends with Italians? Although most of the Italians I’ve met are warm and friendly and great fun to have dinner with, I’m not sure that I have any… Continue reading Making Friends in Italy
Tag: Italian culture
In Italy, Dyed Hair More Common than Natural
(for women) I read somewhere that an astonishing proportion of Italian women dye their hair – was it 60% ? Wouldn’t surprise me. Look around you on the Milan metro any crowded morning, and it’s hard to find a woman who doesn’t dye her hair. There are plenty of blondes, few of them natural. A woman’s hair… Continue reading In Italy, Dyed Hair More Common than Natural
Holiday Hell – Italian Vacation Traffic
Almost every Christmas, we drive halfway down Italy to Abruzzo, where my in-laws are retired by the seaside. This puts us on the road with millions of other Italians going home for the holidays. Much of the flow is north to south: the many southern Italians who migrated to northern Italy decades ago to find… Continue reading Holiday Hell – Italian Vacation Traffic
Conversation in a Bar
While having my morning coffee, I overheard a man talking to the waiter: “I married two sisters. No, really. My first wife caught me with her sister. [Meditatively.] Who do you think is worse: the husband who sleeps with his sister-in-law, or the sister who sleeps with her sister’s husband?” …there’s a novel in there… Continue reading Conversation in a Bar
When the Mom’s Away…
I began travelling for work when my daughter Rossella was in preschool. Sometimes I went for extended periods, and took her with me; she attended daycare in several different parts of the US, which was good for her English, and gave her exposure to American culture. For shorter trips, she stayed home in Milan with… Continue reading When the Mom’s Away…