I'm moving to Italy for a month, what should I expect?

Italians don’t add chicken to items often. If they want chicken, they just make a chicken.

They love to eat outdoors. Meals, even casual ones, are often eaten on some sort of patio.

As is the case with sushi in Japan, pizza and pasta are starters. Salad is eaten last as The Almighty intended.

Dinner is eaten late because lunch took all freaking afternoon, yet dinner out stops abruptly around nine. They aren’t big on breakfast either. Often it’s just strong coffee and a slice of bread made that morning at a shop on the way to work.

Wine is often served informally in a glass that resembles a miniature tumbler.

They have no idea what an indoor washers and dryers are.

Everyone in Florence is roughly a billion times cooler than you. Milan, ten billion. Rome? Maybe a mere thousand.

Don’t ask for bread and a plate of oil. If it comes, great.

Coffee is not served with milk after noon. Adults never drink milk.

It will cost more to eat seated at a table. Many busy people stand at tall tables. Restaurants have a sort of cover charge. This gets you seated and some bread. You go from there.

Bring your own washcloth. Know how to drive a manual gearbox.

Car repair and the like: It will be done when it’s done. There’s gossip, espresso and cigarettes to be had.

Watch out for the men. They can be more sexist and more traditional than Americans. I would not engage in casual sex there.

^ Rather, as one might expect, Italians are just more likely to say what’s on their minds. And not just about sex.

To build on @SecondHandStoke‘s thread, Italians view eating as an event, everyday; never as something to be rushed or merely consumed. So in restaurants, they won’t bring the bill until you ask, you may sit for hours over caffe or vino.

They eat a lot more fish than you might expect.

@janbb Watch out for the men. They can be more sexist and more traditional than Americans. I would not engage in casual sex there.

Where do you recommend engaging in casual sex?

@FutureMemory In California? (nod, nod, wink, wink)

They are boisterous, hospitable but also lose their temper easily.

Expect a new life

The food is incredible! Most restaurants will serve smaller portions than you are accustomed to in the US. Don’t expect the pizza to be the same as you are accustomed to in America.

Watch for people trying to rip you off. One example that happened to me was in Venice a boat taxi wanted $50 to take us over to where the glass factories are. I think we wound up paying $20 to someone else. Later we realized there was a water bus that was like public transportation I guess, that would have been a dollar each probably. I don’t remember the price. We were with someone who grew up 45 minutes outside of Venice so I hadn’t read up on any of the tourist things to know to even consider public transportation. I do recomment skimming a few travel books for information. This might happen less now in Italy, I have no idea I haven’t been there in years. The same thing happened to my inlaws in NYC 30 years ago, a “taxi” charged them $100 from the airport to Manhattan, and at that time it should have been $20. I haven’t heard something so extreme happening in NYC in years.

Be aware of your surroundings in the city. This is true around the world. If you are a woman your purse should be zipped closed, or flap over the top, and in front of you. Don’t dilly dally, don’t walk and at the same time be on the phone or texting or with music playing in your ears.

You can use the train to get to a lot of places. Look up eurail passes for more information.

Italy is fabulous, I think you will have a wonderful time.

Unlike France, Italy has access too all manner of fresh food all year long.

For this reason true Italian food is simple, pure, honest.

France had no choice but to develop sophisticated dressings and processes to attempt to cover the fact that at it’s core, French staples were crap.

Italian ingredients are universally worthy.

It is your job to keep things simple and not fuck these items up.