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I just spent 2 weeks in Italy hitting up the main tourist areas, Rome, Naples, Sorrento/Pompeii/Amalfi coast, Assisi, Venice, Milan, Lake Como, Florence/Tuscany, and had a great experience overall. I'd long wanted to visit Italy and it did not disappoint...the architecture/history/culture was amazing, the scenery breathtaking.etc...I wasn't great shocked or surprised, but here are some little interesting things I thought I'd mention:
1. The expense of everything: yes, I knew Italy was cheap, but somehow I had the idea things like food would be cheaper than northern Europe...then again aside from the UK I don't know if maybe they are, but food in Italy, even the ubiquitous pizza and pasta, is pretty expensive, especially at tourist restaurants, with 15 euros for a plate of pasta not atypical.
2. Which is my second point. This might seem an odd 'surprise' but I'd been told and am also aware that Italian food is more than pizza and pasta, so I expected a little more variety. Maybe it's because I was again in tourist areas, but it seemed the food scene there is still dominated by pizza and pasta (with a few other dishes like risotto), with pizzerias everywhere. There also seems to be a gelateria on every street. So in a sense it was more stereotypical than expected.
3. The people. I expected a greater difference in appearances between the regions, but the people in Varese, near Lake Como, didn't really look much different to those in the Naples region. They could mostly have passed for Sicilians, with dark stereotypical Italian features. Very few Italians could pass for Nordic types, even in Como or Milan. Maybe it's to do with migration patterns, but Italians ARE pretty southern Euro looking, even in the north (which is not a bad thing, of course, the women are definitely pretty attractive overall).
I agree with you 100% I live in Italy...hope to get back to Florida soon !!!! Italy is all the same due to internal migration and yes I'm sick of Pasta Pizza Calamari ecc. Show me the beef !!!
Why are so many Australians and Americans so obsessed about race?
Btw there is no question, Italian people are southern european and look southern european. The alps were always a big divide in europe for peoples and tribes.
Don't mean to be racist ( I'm of Southern Italian origin ) But these people still live in " tribes " and extended families. Can't wait to get back to the New World !!!!!
Restaurant owners in high touristy areas must adapt to tourist's expectations. If you crush tourist expectations, they won't come back..,,,,so tourists want Pizza Rustica, Pasta and Cappuccino, you wil have to get out of the tourist path to eat real food. Would you believe that before 1955 there was not a single pizzeria in Roma? Do you know who REALLY popularised modern pizza...Frank Sinatra. Pizza might be Napolitana in origin, but modern pizza is American.
You should get in contact with the Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza and inform them that tourists want fair haired and blue eyed people in the Padana, maybe they could import people from Poland and place them in strategical positions.
Yeah, I'm also wondering that there are complaints about restaurants in touristy areas I mean, what did you expect?
Probably got the best meat dish in my life when I went to Verona in March... Pastissada de Caval (horse meat stew). Holy ****. I'm still dreaming about that...
Restaurant owners in high touristy areas must adapt to tourist's expectations. If you crush tourist expectations, they won't come back..,,,,so tourists want Pizza Rustica, Pasta and Cappuccino, you wil have to get out of the tourist path to eat real food. Would you believe that before 1955 there was not a single pizzeria in Roma? Do you know who REALLY popularised modern pizza...Frank Sinatra. Pizza might be Napolitana in origin, but modern pizza is American.
You should get in contact with the Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza and inform them that tourists want fair haired and blue eyed people in the Padana, maybe they could import people from Poland and place them in strategical positions.
I find that very hard to believe. What did most restaurants serve in Rome back then?
I find that very hard to believe. What did most restaurants serve in Rome back then?
Most Italians I know don't eat pizza all too often. As people mentioned before, it's usually some small snacks, a plate of pasta followed by some meat dish (antipasti/primi piatti/secondi piatti) when you eat in a restaurant.
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I mean, what did you expect? 
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