6 years in Italy with the USAF (1968-1978). Some of the best years of my life. Try and get back for a week or so every year. Rent a motorcycle and hit the back roads. Lovely country and people.
In Italy the squat toilet (without toilet bowl but only with a hole in the floor ) is only found in some poor restaurants or low-level hotels and campsites ....
its been the standart in Italy & Francenuntil 30 yrs ago. But now with the EU .....European habits got blended, and ordinary toilet bowls replaced most of the squat shitters - except in ood and very rural locations.
Hi Rick & Andrea, great video! I'm going to Italy next week and I was not clear about the bill. I'm going with a friend of mine. The restaurant will split the bill in half? They will give you two separate bills? Thanks again!
Random story: We were in Ferrara - loved Ferrara by the way - and all my wife wanted was to eat an early dinner of Italian pasta and get to bed. She was running the marathon the next day. Um, no. No place in the old city opened before 8:00. And by 8:00, they meant 8:30. But it all worked out. The food was great and the race went well, even with the “late” dinner.
I am Italian and I have always had cappuccino and brioche at the bar at 3 PM and 5 or 6 PM, especially in winter. In the north the cappuccino at the snack bar in the afternoon is quite normal, for example instead of hot chocolate with cream. What is really impossible for all Italians is the cappuccino with meals and the cappuccino with any salty food ..
Sono d’accordo. When of the greatest differences is the tendency to rush meals as if they were chores and competitive moments who can wolf down the food first. I love late evening meals that last well into the night among friends, even New Italian friends (we speak Italian).
i came across a public toilet (not in a home) in Italy that just a had a hold on the floor. This is identical in Asia when going to a toilet in a home.
Sometimes with fiends, at restaurant The bill doesn't split at all. Pay a person or family, for everyone, and you know that next time it's someone else's turn.
Hi guys! Very interesting and informative video. I have a question. Do i need to book a sit in Zi Umberto if i will come there at 19-30, right after they will open for dinner?
Hi guys. This video is so informative. As you know, we travel to Italy every year and follow your advice. Looking forward to our next trip. Rick, was the move to Italy a big adjustment for you? Would love to hear how you managed. Ciao.
Hi Jeffrey, thanks for the question! Before moving to Italy, I had visited ~20 times. So, I kinda knew what I was getting myself in to :). That said, the only thing that really irked me was having to start from scratch with an Italian drivers license. That was a royal pain. Also, taxes are a LOT higher than I'm used too. But, the benefits certainly make up for the minor issues. Have a nice trip!!
As an american and my expected american cultural norms . I had a VERY difficult time determining if a guy was gay or not ( I'm gay ) .... when I was visiting Brescia, Italy Because body contact norms are QUITE different there between hetero men friends vs. the states .
When visiting Italy, my wife and I would sit at a cafe and people watch. She’d gesture to the men walking around, well dressed and giving a damn about their appearance. “If this were the US, every one of them would be gay. But at least some of them (the Italians) must be straight. Why can’t straight American guys look like that.” Sitting in my shluby clothes and baseball cap, I thought it best not to answer.
Where I live i Italy (at least where I go shopping) they always ask for an ID if the person buying an alcoholic beverage seems underage. And I always drink cappuccino in the afternoon and nobody has nothing to say (but I live in the north, I don't know about the south). The big NO NO is having cappuccino at the end of a meal!
In the shops they always ask for your ID if you seem underage, but in bars it’s not always like that. Sometimes they simply don’t care, especially if you are with your friends and there're both people older and younger than 18 in the group. For the cappuccino it’s okay to drink it in the afternoon if you are having a snack, especially during the winter, you would ask for a tea, a hot chocolate or a cappuccino to stay warm. During the summer it’s a bit weird, even more if it’s after 4pm because people start ordering appetisers from that hour.😅
@@TravelAddictsLife thank you for your answer. I asked a couple questions on Instagram, but I'll ask here too. Any help is GREATLY appreciated. May I ask, I will be in Italy for 2 weeks in December and I know I'm going to go to Rome, Florence, and Venice. I'm going to try to do a day trip to Pompeii. What what CITIES would you suggest in the country to see? I like gay things, art, museums, theater, history, and food hehehehe hehehehe
Absolutely right about the water. Even my half Italian husband had problems with the water in Rome. We had to go on a 7 day regime of probiotics to straighten out our digestive tracts. Even in the Milan area where water is better. My husband thinks every bathroom is open from his many years in Italy past. He learned that is no longer the case. We find out where the free bathrooms are and plot our paths accordingly. Better make sure you're empty before hitting the Porta Portese 💩
In some cities now, after the pandemic, drinking while walking in the streets it's no more allowed, at least by night and during the week end, so be careful!
Lived in Italy for 7 years, visit as often as possible....my 2 cents....your trip will be a blur, I know you are probably saying I will only have this one time, so I have to see all the high points. I would skip Venice and Rome and save for future trips....trust me if you do my suggestions you WILL return. Instead go to Florence, stay for your 6 days in Fiesole, a hilltop town which was originally Etruscan and later conquered by the Romans. Fiesole is a small town with sweeping panoramas of Florence and the countryside. Not over run by tourists and lovely selection of restaurants. Incredible Roman/Etruscan museum and amphitheater where you have a good chance of taking a foto with NO tourists in it. The bus, runs every 20 mins to Florence and takes a scenic 18 minutes..... At the end of the day tired and footsore you will love taking the bus back to YOUR town. Do your research on Fiesole and Florence and plan your activities. The MOST important thing I can say and these 2 guys alluded to it, is SLOW down....you will see lots of fantastic things, but in the end it is the Italians themselves, the socializing, the culture/food, families strolling, small shops...etc etc. Sure you can come home and show a foto of the Coliseum, ST Peters, etc....but trust me you have MISSED Italy. One culture shock that they didn't cover is the amount of walking you will do if you want to immerse yourself.....take comfortable shoes that you have broken in before the trip and carry some moleskin with you and immediately treat any hotspots. Do NOT put the moleskin ON the hotspot, but next to it to take the pressure off of it, to prevent blisters. NO high heels, you will be walking on cobblestones and other uneven surfaces. Hope this helps...if you have a specific ? ask!
You're a bit tight...bear in mind from Rome to Venice take a long ride....You're better off 3 days Rome and 3 Venice there's a looooot of things to see.....ciao
hi,watching a lot of your videos lately, quick question, goind to italy for 24 days , florenc , naples , rome , cinque terre, milan venice and back to florence, iam travel with my son who is 13, all by train, dont want to spend so much in train and tired him, it is worth it cinque terre, is about 5 hrs from rome and we are planning to stay for 3 nights , let me know thanks!!!!!
Hello Monica, thank you for your comment. Cinque Terre is really beautiful, it is better if you go there from Florence than from Rome. It is much closer
Just watch capuccino. It is a breakfast drink. Usually with a pastry. While standing or seated. Not on the go unless walking to a train. Consume on board
I don't know why people are convinced that spaghetti with meatballs don't exist here in Italy...probably at the restaurant but at home are common and also in the north sometimes
-It's not "dinner with chickens" but it's "going to bed with chickens" - the bathrooms of the bar: in any medium-small city or non-tourist village any bar and restaurant will make you use the bathroom without buying anything. It is only in the big cities that the bathroom is only for customers, for an obvious reason: otherwise it would be a continuous line of people in the bar just for the bathroom. And a less obvious reason: to discourage drug addicts and homeless people and avoid finding excrement and splashes of blood for customers and employees. After that, dress well, physical contact and eat late and stay at the restaurant for hours, the more you go south, the more real uses are. The more you go north, the less they are present. In val d'Aosta si va a mangiare anche alle 7.30 PM. In Sicilia non prima delle 21 PM. In the south, society is extremely attentive to the appearances and judgment of the community, especially moral judgment.And not only the judgment of oneself, but of the whole family. In a retrograde sense. If in the north a judge's daughter has short hair and piercings, nothing bad happens. If in Sicily the daughter of a judge or notary has rasta and piercings, it is a social tragedy. They are attentive to form, social position and to flaunt often false qualities, such as often false immediate hospitality. In Trentino, for example, no one is affectionate and hospitable with a stranger ... but when someone really knows you and decides to open the door of your house and give you confidence, know that it is much more authentic than the exaggerations of immediate hospitality of the south
italians are very affectionate.... ehmm i don't think so but maybe i'm a strange italian stranger: so you're italian, c'mon buddy give me a hug me: uhmm no? stranger: c'mon don't be shy me: nope, you're creepy, stay away from me stranger: start to speak me: you're annoyng stranger: so you're italian ( than start to speak in a very strange way and mooving every part of his body) me to another person: does he have some nerve issue? and yes this things happend
@@thekyuwa a quanto pare non conosci l’ inglese il dialogo/esempio era tra uno straniero e un italiano. Ed è una situazione che mi è capitata un sacco di volte quando viaggiavo fuori dall’ Italia
@@giuseppedifronzo1598 a parte che l inglese lo parlo perfettamente (quando hai detto che il tizio ha iniziato a muoversi come se avesse le convulsioni pensavo ti riferissi al classico italiano stereotipato che gesticola)... e poi in anni che ho vissuto in Belgio e viaggiato per il Nord Europa non mi è mai capitato gente che mi volesse abbracciare e spupazzare solo perché io fossi italiano
@@thekyuwa a me è capitato negli usa , e mi ha dato davvero fastidio, a te non é mai capitato ma ciò non vuol dire che solo perché non è successo a te, allora in automatico non capita agli altri. Ci ho pire scritto stranger vicino per far capire🤦🏼♂️ con tanto di : per intendere il dialogo.
@@giuseppedifronzo1598 cristo iddio... ho capito che erano sconosciuti e che quello era un dialogo... ma ti ripeto, non succede mai... solo ai bambini di 8 anni si dice "vieni qui a darmi un abbraccione e un bacetto" evidentemente sei un pischello, parecchio introverso anche e con un ego spropositato
@@TravelAddictsLife Have you ever visited Abruzzo? There's a traditional recipe, "chitarra con polpettine", or guitar made spaghetti with small meatballs. Anyway, is normal that you don't know this recipe. Abruzzo is the most unknown region in Italy and the most part of italian people know nothing about it.
6 years in Italy with the USAF (1968-1978). Some of the best years of my life. Try and get back for a week or so every year. Rent a motorcycle and hit the back roads. Lovely country and people.
Thank you Michael 🙏
Been to Roma 30 times. The best country.
@Paul Capaccio
Roma is a city not a country.
Roma is in the of Region Lazio.
Italy is a COUNTRY.... okay????
In Italy the squat toilet (without toilet bowl but only with a hole in the floor ) is only found in some poor restaurants or low-level hotels and campsites ....
And some train stations
its been the standart in Italy & Francenuntil 30 yrs ago. But now with the EU .....European habits got blended, and ordinary toilet bowls replaced most of the squat shitters - except in ood and very rural locations.
@@lostmoose7352I remember them ell.
Hi Rick & Andrea, great video! I'm going to Italy next week and I was not clear about the bill. I'm going with a friend of mine. The restaurant will split the bill in half? They will give you two separate bills? Thanks again!
Hello there 😃thank you for the feedback. Usually the restaurants give you one bill and then tell you it is x amount per person
Random story: We were in Ferrara - loved Ferrara by the way - and all my wife wanted was to eat an early dinner of Italian pasta and get to bed. She was running the marathon the next day. Um, no. No place in the old city opened before 8:00. And by 8:00, they meant 8:30. But it all worked out. The food was great and the race went well, even with the “late” dinner.
😃thank you for sharing your story
This is not true. Restaurants open before 8,00.
False. As A Alb said Restaurants often stay open from lunch until dinner as well.
I am Italian and I have always had cappuccino and brioche at the bar at 3 PM and 5 or 6 PM, especially in winter. In the north the cappuccino at the snack bar in the afternoon is quite normal, for example instead of hot chocolate with cream.
What is really impossible for all Italians is the cappuccino with meals and the cappuccino with any salty food ..
We travel to Italy 2 times every year. Want to buy an apartment there. Been to Roma 30 times already. Forza Roma
Glad to hear 😀
Sono d’accordo. When of the greatest differences is the tendency to rush meals as if they were chores and competitive moments who can wolf down the food first. I love late evening meals that last well into the night among friends, even New Italian friends (we speak Italian).
Grazie Giacomo 🙏
i came across a public toilet (not in a home) in Italy that just a had a hold on the floor. This is identical in Asia when going to a toilet in a home.
Thank you! Hoping to travel there in 2022.
Thank you 🙏 we hope you can visit as well 😃
Thank you very helpful tips.
Thank you 🙏🏻
I love the culture shocks’ I get when I go to Italy.
Thank you 🙏
Sometimes with fiends, at restaurant The bill doesn't split at all. Pay a person or family, for everyone, and you know that next time it's someone else's turn.
Hi guys! Very interesting and informative video. I have a question. Do i need to book a sit in Zi Umberto if i will come there at 19-30, right after they will open for dinner?
Yes it is a small restaurant and a reservation is necessary 😊
Guys you are great!!! I love the videos and tips !!!
Thank you 🙏
Hi guys. This video is so informative. As you know, we travel to Italy every year and follow your advice. Looking forward to our next trip. Rick, was the move to Italy a big adjustment for you? Would love to hear how you managed. Ciao.
Hi Jeffrey, thanks for the question! Before moving to Italy, I had visited ~20 times. So, I kinda knew what I was getting myself in to :). That said, the only thing that really irked me was having to start from scratch with an Italian drivers license. That was a royal pain. Also, taxes are a LOT higher than I'm used too. But, the benefits certainly make up for the minor issues. Have a nice trip!!
Excellent advice! Thanks again.
You are very welcome 🙏
Fab tips thanks!
Thank you Andreas!
As an american and my expected american cultural norms .
I had a VERY difficult time determining if a guy was gay or not ( I'm gay ) .... when I was visiting Brescia, Italy
Because body contact norms are QUITE different there between hetero men friends vs. the states .
That is very true 👍🏻
When visiting Italy, my wife and I would sit at a cafe and people watch. She’d gesture to the men walking around, well dressed and giving a damn about their appearance. “If this were the US, every one of them would be gay. But at least some of them (the Italians) must be straight. Why can’t straight American guys look like that.” Sitting in my shluby clothes and baseball cap, I thought it best not to answer.
Well done!
Thank you Danielle 😀
Where I live i Italy (at least where I go shopping) they always ask for an ID if the person buying an alcoholic beverage seems underage.
And I always drink cappuccino in the afternoon and nobody has nothing to say (but I live in the north, I don't know about the south). The big NO NO is having cappuccino at the end of a meal!
Thank you for your comment Lella
In the shops they always ask for your ID if you seem underage, but in bars it’s not always like that. Sometimes they simply don’t care, especially if you are with your friends and there're both people older and younger than 18 in the group.
For the cappuccino it’s okay to drink it in the afternoon if you are having a snack, especially during the winter, you would ask for a tea, a hot chocolate or a cappuccino to stay warm. During the summer it’s a bit weird, even more if it’s after 4pm because people start ordering appetisers from that hour.😅
I'm going to be traveling through Italy in December as a solo traveler. Is it weird to eat alone in Italy?
No it is not, you will be just fine 👍🏻
@@TravelAddictsLife thank you for your answer. I asked a couple questions on Instagram, but I'll ask here too. Any help is GREATLY appreciated.
May I ask, I will be in Italy for 2 weeks in December and I know I'm going to go to Rome, Florence, and Venice. I'm going to try to do a day trip to Pompeii. What what CITIES would you suggest in the country to see? I like gay things, art, museums, theater, history, and food hehehehe hehehehe
Bug hey, most of this applies to any other country in Europe as well.
(Some excemptions)
Thank you
Your right Italian women are best dressed 😀
Thank you 😘
the men too :-))
Absolutely right about the water. Even my half Italian husband had problems with the water in Rome. We had to go on a 7 day regime of probiotics to straighten out our digestive tracts. Even in the Milan area where water is better. My husband thinks every bathroom is open from his many years in Italy past. He learned that is no longer the case. We find out where the free bathrooms are and plot our paths accordingly. Better make sure you're empty before hitting the Porta Portese 💩
Haha good tip 😃
Never had such issues in Tuscany. duh.
In some cities now, after the pandemic, drinking while walking in the streets it's no more allowed, at least by night and during the week end, so be careful!
Thank you Paola 👍🏻
Great tips , thank you both... Are 6 days good for Rome Florence and Venice if we take on avg 2 days at each place ?
6 days is a bit short because you will have to consider the travel between the cities. I would say 8 is better especially in Rome you’ll need 3 days
Lived in Italy for 7 years, visit as often as possible....my 2 cents....your trip will be a blur, I know you are probably saying I will only have this one time, so I have to see all the high points. I would skip Venice and Rome and save for future trips....trust me if you do my suggestions you WILL return. Instead go to Florence, stay for your 6 days in Fiesole, a hilltop town which was originally Etruscan and later conquered by the Romans. Fiesole is a small town with sweeping panoramas of Florence and the countryside. Not over run by tourists and lovely selection of restaurants. Incredible Roman/Etruscan museum and amphitheater where you have a good chance of taking a foto with NO tourists in it. The bus, runs every 20 mins to Florence and takes a scenic 18 minutes..... At the end of the day tired and footsore you will love taking the bus back to YOUR town. Do your research on Fiesole and Florence and plan your activities. The MOST important thing I can say and these 2 guys alluded to it, is SLOW down....you will see lots of fantastic things, but in the end it is the Italians themselves, the socializing, the culture/food, families strolling, small shops...etc etc. Sure you can come home and show a foto of the Coliseum, ST Peters, etc....but trust me you have MISSED Italy. One culture shock that they didn't cover is the amount of walking you will do if you want to immerse yourself.....take comfortable shoes that you have broken in before the trip and carry some moleskin with you and immediately treat any hotspots. Do NOT put the moleskin ON the hotspot, but next to it to take the pressure off of it, to prevent blisters. NO high heels, you will be walking on cobblestones and other uneven surfaces. Hope this helps...if you have a specific ? ask!
You're a bit tight...bear in mind from Rome to Venice take a long ride....You're better off 3 days Rome and 3 Venice there's a looooot of things to see.....ciao
excellent presentation
Thank you 🙏
Thank you 🙏
hi,watching a lot of your videos lately, quick question, goind to italy for 24 days , florenc , naples , rome , cinque terre, milan venice and back to florence, iam travel with my son who is 13, all by train, dont want to spend so much in train and tired him, it is worth it cinque terre, is about 5 hrs from rome and we are planning to stay for 3 nights , let me know thanks!!!!!
Hello Monica, thank you for your comment. Cinque Terre is really beautiful, it is better if you go there from Florence than from Rome. It is much closer
Nelle citta del nord non turistiche, su richiesta, tutti i ristoranti offrono acqua del rubinetto
If you ask a coffee (or a cappuccino ) to go (a portar via) you will have it
Yes you can but nobody drinks coffee on the go like they do in North America
@@TravelAddictsLife sure
Just watch capuccino. It is a breakfast drink. Usually with a pastry. While standing or seated. Not on the go unless walking to a train. Consume on board
My husband and I don’t really drink alcohol… beer, wine, liquor. Is that going to be embarrassing on our part? Do we have any alternative maybe?
No embarrassment at all, you can drink water or soda. 👍🏻
In Italy we also have many alcholfree aperitif like Crodino or Sanbitter.
Water is usually flat or sparkling..bottled. rarely chilled fresh water. Everyone serves it...for a price
WC alla turca no most common in Italy
No Thankfully 😀
I don't know why people are convinced that spaghetti with meatballs don't exist here in Italy...probably at the restaurant but at home are common and also in the north sometimes
In American homes....
@@Bruno-jc9lx Io la mangio spesso la pasta con le polpette...a Bari da dove viene mio padre è una tradizione
Legal age is 18 not 16 regardless you're going to have a beer, a glass of wine or a whiskey
drinking age is 16, but you can buy alcohol only after you're 18
Di conseguenza, a 16 bevi a casa, altrimenti fino ai 18 non ti serve alcohol nessuno.
@@deckard1970 No, basta che bevi con i tuoi o altri adulti, sempre fatto aperitivi con loro
About liquors.. More you forbid more young people wanna do it!
I think you are right
rules are meant to be broken
🤣 thank you
Hahahaha ma che carini....
Grazie 🙏
Mamma mia che stereotipi
Drinking age is 18 wtf u saying
We all speak Italian then DIALETTI
Confusing for a Canadian!
Dialetti?? Il Siciliano e' un'altra lingua rispetto all'Italiano e non un dialetto dell'Italiano.
@@gioduck3684 tradizionalmente le lingue regionali parlate in Italia sono chiamati dialetti italiani
-It's not "dinner with chickens" but it's "going to bed with chickens"
- the bathrooms of the bar: in any medium-small city or non-tourist village any bar and restaurant will make you use the bathroom without buying anything. It is only in the big cities that the bathroom is only for customers, for an obvious reason: otherwise it would be a continuous line of people in the bar just for the bathroom. And a less obvious reason: to discourage drug addicts and homeless people and avoid finding excrement and splashes of blood for customers and employees.
After that, dress well, physical contact and eat late and stay at the restaurant for hours, the more you go south, the more real uses are. The more you go north, the less they are present. In val d'Aosta si va a mangiare anche alle 7.30 PM. In Sicilia non prima delle 21 PM. In the south, society is extremely attentive to the appearances and judgment of the community, especially moral judgment.And not only the judgment of oneself, but of the whole family. In a retrograde sense.
If in the north a judge's daughter has short hair and piercings, nothing bad happens. If in Sicily the daughter of a judge or notary has rasta and piercings, it is a social tragedy.
They are attentive to form, social position and to flaunt often false qualities, such as often false immediate hospitality.
In Trentino, for example, no one is affectionate and hospitable with a stranger ... but when someone really knows you and decides to open the door of your house and give you confidence, know that it is much more authentic than the exaggerations of immediate hospitality of the south
You can easily avoid those "italian culture shock" ... just stay in the place where you are from. Arrivederci
😂😂🤣🤣🤣
italians are very affectionate.... ehmm i don't think so but maybe i'm a strange italian
stranger: so you're italian, c'mon buddy give me a hug
me: uhmm no?
stranger: c'mon don't be shy
me: nope, you're creepy, stay away from me
stranger: start to speak
me: you're annoyng
stranger: so you're italian ( than start to speak in a very strange way and mooving every part of his body)
me to another person: does he have some nerve issue?
and yes this things happend
nessun italiano direbbe "allora sei italiano" a un altro italiano... cosa ti fumi amico mio?
@@thekyuwa a quanto pare non conosci l’ inglese il dialogo/esempio era tra uno straniero e un italiano. Ed è una situazione che mi è capitata un sacco di volte quando viaggiavo fuori dall’ Italia
@@giuseppedifronzo1598 a parte che l inglese lo parlo perfettamente (quando hai detto che il tizio ha iniziato a muoversi come se avesse le convulsioni pensavo ti riferissi al classico italiano stereotipato che gesticola)... e poi in anni che ho vissuto in Belgio e viaggiato per il Nord Europa non mi è mai capitato gente che mi volesse abbracciare e spupazzare solo perché io fossi italiano
@@thekyuwa a me è capitato negli usa , e mi ha dato davvero fastidio, a te non é mai capitato ma ciò non vuol dire che solo perché non è successo a te, allora in automatico non capita agli altri. Ci ho pire scritto stranger vicino per far capire🤦🏼♂️ con tanto di : per intendere il dialogo.
@@giuseppedifronzo1598 cristo iddio... ho capito che erano sconosciuti e che quello era un dialogo... ma ti ripeto, non succede mai... solo ai bambini di 8 anni si dice "vieni qui a darmi un abbraccione e un bacetto"
evidentemente sei un pischello, parecchio introverso anche e con un ego spropositato
Too many stereotypes guys.. In my family nobody ever dresses up...
😃
L'Italia è diversificata SOLO da un punto di vista folkloristico. Per il resto gli italiani sono fra i popoli più omogenei al mondo!
Spaghetti and meatball don't exist anywhere in Italy... ahahahaha... are you sure? Really sure? Sorry, wrong answer.
I lived in Italy almost all my life and I’ve never seen anything even close to what they call spaghetti and meatballs in North America
@@TravelAddictsLife Have you ever visited Abruzzo? There's a traditional recipe, "chitarra con polpettine", or guitar made spaghetti with small meatballs.
Anyway, is normal that you don't know this recipe. Abruzzo is the most unknown region in Italy and the most part of italian people know nothing about it.