Friends

The importance of friendship may be over-shadowed by the role of the family, but it plays a key role in Italian society. Italians are highly gregarious people and love belonging to groups or cliques. The idea of belonging to a group is seen as natural and essential.

Food

The Italians have always appreciated quality and keep the very best of foods for themselves. Italy is still an agricultural nation and its small farmers (i contadini), who wield enormous power in the community, are highly practical men.

Family Matters

The family is far and away the most important social, economic, organisational and political unit in Italy. The nuclear family is divided into: the father, the head 'of the family, who thinks he does all the work and decision-making; the mother, who in actual fact does all the hard work and takes all the important decisions...

Etiquette

Punctuality is only relatively important in Italy and the time is often treated as approximate. Being late for appointments is tolerated rather than welcomed – a quarter of an hour is acceptable, but half an hour is not.

Education

Compared with the educational systems of other countries, the Italians seem to have got theirs the wrong way round. The country of Maria Montessori, Italy's best schools are probably its pre-schools, after which things seem to gradually regress through elementary, middle and high schools into a somewhat disorderly university system.

Dialects

When Italians are at home in their villages they speak the local dialects or languages, which can be almost impossible for gli altri in other regions to understand. One survey found that of the E.U.'s 28 minority language communities, 13 were in Italy.

Dental Care

Most Italians look wonderfully fit and healthy, until they open their mouths. Dental treatment in Italy is very expensive and, unfortunately for them but fortunately for their dentists, Italians tend to wait until they have serious problems with their teeth before making an appointment.

Crime & Punishment

All Italians are individually perfect, but know that gli altri are imperfect. So Italian criminal law starts from the premise that you are guilty until you are proved innocent. Italian criminals have few worries because the chances of being caught are very slim.

Shopping

Italians love shopping. Their cities are full of wonderful craftsmen and skilled tailors, as well as shops catering for every taste and whim. The quality and luxury of the goods on display in the main streets is stunning. As are the price tags. But although only the rich and famous will actually enter Prada, Gucci, Armani, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana and Valentino to buy

Business

The Italian industrial and financial system is suffering the after-effects of some major scandals: two of them as a result of the collapse of food chain giants Cirio and Parmalat; two of them involving the bungled attempt to prevent two of Italy's banks from being taken over by the Dutch and Spanish.

Bureaucracy

All Italians believe that long bureaucratic procedures are of the utmost importance, but for gli altri, of course, not for themselves. Without these procedures other Italians would most certainly get up to every kind of mischief. Moreover, there are so many powerful interests involved in the Italian bureaucratic system that it is unlikely that anything will change.

Animals

For the Italians animals must have a practical use. Dogs must be able to bark at strangers and so be justified as guard dogs. Cats must be able to keep the mice at bay.Pets must amuse the children or perform a role as a fashion accessory. If animals fit none of these categories then they can only serve one purpose, they must be for eating.

Allegria

Allegria is a general effervescence and delight in living that is not easy for the outsider to penetrate. It is linked to the joy of being and tends to involve sunshine, company and collective high spirits and it is why Italians so often seem to be laughing and smiling, together.

The Press

Italian newspapers are expensive and have a limited readership. Although the average daily circulation is reputed to be under 6.5 million and falling, the actual number of readers is difficult to calculate since many Italians read newspapers available in public places, in the library, the town square or the bar, while others buy more than one newspaper a day.

Children

Italian children are allowed to be both seen and heard; in fact, they must be both seen and heard, and be on show all the time, except, of course, between 2 and 5 p.m., when they should be having their afternoon nap.All Italian children take a siesta, which means they are not too tired to take part in the passeggiata.

Special Relationships

Because of the massive emigration from Italy at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, there are extensive Italian communities in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Australia. There are about 20 million Americans with Italian surnames.

Custom and Tradition

Christmas is traditionally celebrated at home with the family, and Easter is spent with friends: 'Natale con I tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi' (Christmas with your own, Easter with whomever you want). But Easter Monday (called Pasquetta, little Easter) always involves a big family picnic.

Health

The most common Italian illness is hypochondria. Italians are in general fairly healthy people who spend a great deal of their time thinking that they should feel healthier than they do. This is partly because' they imagine that everyone else feels better than they do, and partly because they have absurd expectations - about their own health.

The Eat-alian Way

The Italians are foodcentric people. Much of Italian life revolves around the growing, buying, preparing and, above all, eating of food. Whenever possible, meals are shared and eaten in company. The very word 'company' comes from two Italian words, con (with) and pane (bread), implying breaking bread in friendship.

Sense of Humor

Italians have a good sense of humour and are able to laugh at themselves as well as at others. But as they also have great respect for the role they are playing, they prefer not to ruin the effect with levity. They are very conscious of public dignity and, when playing an institutional part, will act it with great formality and aplomb. It's an attitude that explains why the law professor will not lard his lectures with wisecracks.

You are what you wear

Italians always take great care to wear the right clothes on the right occasion. This is never a casual choice - it is important to wear the proper clothes for the role you are playing. The station master must look like a station master. He must act the part too since he is on stage in the great film set of life. This is where style is so important.

Television

If the Italians didn't actually invent trash television, they have certainly developed it to a fine art. Even on the three national channels there is a lack of finesse that would be considered really slapdash anywhere else. Viewers are often treated to completely blank screens, and programmes regularly start several minutes later than scheduled. Newscasters are frequently caught reading items that have no relation to what is happening on the screen.

Avoiding Tax

Italy has the greatest number of taxes and some of the highest rates of taxation in Europe, but this is not a problem because Italians are famous for not paying them. The government takes this into consideration when calculating their demands. This has led to some misunderstandings. When Trieste passed from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Italy in 1918, the people paid the taxes they were asked to pay.

Mummy's boys

Italian males rarely leave the nest and, even when they do, these mammoni (Mummy's boys) usually only move into the house across the road, or the flat next door. Statistics show that nearly 40% of Italians in their early thirties still live at home with their parents. Behind every great Italian man there is a great Italian woman, sometimes his wife or his mistress, but usually his mother. The Italian male grows up thinking his mother is the Virgin Mary...

Manners

Italians are courteous people, and well-mannered. Greetings are important and, since the Italians are very physical, hand-shaking and kissing are the norm. They convey genuine warmth and pleasure at seeing people again, even if they have seen them the day before or even that morning. Kissing is on both cheeks and there are no taboos about men greeting each other this way.

Driving

Driving is the area of his life where the Italian male feels he can properly express himself. Ask what he means by a good driver or a beautiful road and he will wax poetic. He will tell you that a good driver is one who drives at speed from A to B, ensuring the maximum pleasure and comfort of his passengers, not braking too often, not driving over bumps or holes but slaloming round them, driving, in short, like a Ferrari Formula One team member.

Love

Love is taken very seriously by Italians - 99% of all their songs are about love - and it is endlessly thought about and debated, for after all, what is life without amore? The debate covers a large number of key issues: What effect does falling in love have on your diet? Is love good for your health?

A Contradiction in Terms

Italy is a country of contradictions. It is the country of the Catholic Church, but also of the mafia. It is the most pro-European country in Europe, but one of the worst at implementing E.U. directives. It has some of the world's most advanced engineering, but some of its most antiquated plumbing.

How other people see Italians

The typical stereotype of the Italians is that of a noisy, passionate, scheming, Mediterranean people, whose brilliance and inventiveness are unfortunately marred by laziness and unreliability. Italians are known to live in a beautiful country full of art treasures.

How Italians see rich foreigners

Italians love foreigners, especially rich foreigners. The Austrians, Swiss and especially Germans have always enjoyed Italy's climate, culture, beaches and lifestyle. Italy is their playground. Ever since the days of the Roman Empire, Goths have been heading across the Alps to let off steam.

North and South

The Italians often simplify their internal differences by means of a straightforward North-South divide. The Northern Italian views the Southerner as a corrupt, half-Arab peasant who tolerates the mafia and lives off the income generated by the hard-working North.