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I read a well respected history book, written by a British scholar, I believe, about 40 years ago, in which Italy is classified as central Europe, focusing on the 1815-1914 period.
A few days ago I met a woman from Ukraine who classifies Europe as north, central and south, going horizontally, not east and west divided vertically. In other words to her Finland, the Baltics, Scandinavia and the UK are northern Europe, countries like Poland, Germany and France are central Europe and, I suppose, the Balkans, Italy and Iberia are southern Europe.
I could understand why some people might culturally classify northern Italians as northern European and geographically even central Europe (e.g. parts of Italy are as far east as Slovakia and Poland; parts of Italy were once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), but geographically not northern Europe on any measure.
Sure it is. Milan just happens to be warmer in all 12 months. Sunshine is similar though, Milan has just 100 hours more sun annually.
Statements like this without context are dangerous.
The way in which both cities get their sunshine yearly is very different. In the late Spring through the Summer, Helsinki receives many more hours of sunshine than Europe's southern neighbors. Its daylight (not counting dawn and dusk hours) is almost 19 hours. Conversely, Helsinki receives much less sunshine in the Autumn & Winter with its "dead of Winter" days being dreadfully dark with less than 6 hours of very low-horizon sunshine daily.
The more south one travels, the less extreme the variation is between the peak sunshine of the Summer season and the "valley" of the Winter season.
No Italy is in Southern Europe Italians talk with their hands like southerners.
The thing I noticed the last time when I was in Spain was that I recognised Italians from Spanish as they didn't talk as much with their hands.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl
Statements like this without context are dangerous.
The way in which both cities get their sunshine yearly is very different. In the late Spring through the Summer, Helsinki receives many more hours of sunshine than Europe's southern neighbors. Its daylight (not counting dawn and dusk hours) is almost 19 hours. Conversely, Helsinki receives much less sunshine in the Autumn & Winter with its "dead of Winter" days being dreadfully dark with less than 6 hours of very low-horizon sunshine daily.
The more south one travels, the less extreme the variation is between the peak sunshine of the Summer season and the "valley" of the Winter season.
Yes, it's true. But the sensors need 120 W/m2 of direct sunshine to pick it up, and as the closer to the poles you get, the more in a shallow C-formed arc the sun rises and sets, while closer to the equator it rises and sets as a V-formed arc. Therefore the 120W/m2 treshold is gone before the sun sets in Helsinki. So it is in Milan too, but doesn't eat as much up of the daylight hours. 19 hours of sunshine is impossible in Helsinki.
Anyway, the day is 3h 10m longer in Helsinki at summer solstice, and if we assume that it's sunny 50-60% of the time, Helsinki gets around 40-50 hours more sun than Milan in the month of June only thanks to latitude.
So, Helsinki 297 hours - 45 = 252
Milan 243 hours
Not a big difference.
BUT! January.
In Helsinki on 16 January the day is 6 hours 44 minutes. In Milan 9 hours 8 minutes. Therefore the monthly daylight hours are in Helsinki 209, in Milan 284 during that month.
Milan gets on average 59 hours of sun = 21% of the time.
Helsinki gets 38 hours of sun = 18% of the time.
Not a big difference there. Why? Milan is too much north.
There are areas in Italy that are central Europe, other Mediterranean, other have Eastern influences on the Adriatic side. The same happens with France, Germany, etc. There are no clear cut divisions and weather is not determinant.
The sea is determinant, wether Med or Atlantic, the Alps, the Pyrinees, etc.
Italy is western Europe, the cradle of western culture, as opposed to Greece, eastern culture that later merged.
[quote=Ariete;39639670]The thing I noticed the last time when I was in Spain was that I recognised Italians from Spanish as they didn't talk as much with their hands.end Quote]
That's interesting, what part of Spain did you visit?
Spaniards in Madrid are definitely more Lauder/dramatics than Italians above rome
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