You Know You're Italian If...

There are some things in Italy that just make me laugh.  For instance, the same old man driving his tractor down the road in front of our house every morning.  The mobs of 30+ bikers flying down the road, and bikes trailing mopeds/vans as pacers are also pretty funny.  The mail lady driving her moped with her little white helmet on always gets me, as well as watching mopeds drive right past you and all the other cars in front of you at a red light just to weasel themselves in front.  These things aren't necessarily comical, they just elicit a chuckle because they're so ordinary but yet so unique to Italy.  Never in America would you see  warning signs on the side of the highway about an upcoming speed trap, and then see a giant sign next to a box with a police officer painted on the side signaling the radar zone.  You also wouldn't ever see a CAN of Coca-Cola for €3,49 unless you were at a theme park, and hanging the laundry out to dry is (sadly enough) pretty much a poor man's game.  Here are some pictures I've collected of things you'd only see in Italy.

A Lamborghini tractor is like a Lexus airplane, a cold summer, a jumbo shrimp, etc. etc. etc (The King and I anyone??).  They just don't go together!  It's just so misleading.  I can picture it now: Guy and a girl meet at a bar.  They start talking, going through the usual motions.  He's interested and needs to sound cool, so he throws out a "Hey, I've got a Lamborghini."  Girl: "Really? Wow, that's awesome!  You'll have to take me for a ride."  Boy: "Yeah, for sure, we can do that." (as he thinks to himself, 'that was perfect! I've totally got this one, and I didn't even lie')  Saddle up missy, cause you're going for a ride on a big white tractor!  And unless she's in love with Kenny Chesney and really does think tractors are sexy, I'm going to have to say she'll be severely disappointed.

You know you're in Italy when the bumblebees are bigger than a quarter.  Alright, it's a €10 cent piece, but they're about the same size.  The bumblebees here are so enormous I thought one was 2 mating love bug style when I first saw it.  Some of them are so big you can literally see the hair on them when they're flying around.

Yes, ladies and gentleman.  The feast before your eyes is an everyday sight here in Italy, and boy is it a beautiful one.  There are so many gelato shops that you have to be choosy in the ones you stop at.  You don't want to waste your daily allotted dessert calories on some stinky icy gelato.  Yeah right, like any of us care about calories when we've got 19 mounds of delicious gelato calling our name from behind the glass.  For real though, you've got to look for the creaminess, which you can usually judge from the window.  If the gelato looks a little rough and you can see the little particles of ice, then you want to move on and find the next shop that has smooth, creamy gelato.

What is unusual about this picture?  All the men!  This was taken in Tuscany, but once Christine pointed it out, I see them everywhere now.  It's one of the cutest things ever.  All the old men gather together and chat while their ladies go off shopping or do whatever it is they're doing.  It's so much what I imagine old time America to have been like.  I just wish I knew what they were talking about.  The weather, their latest ailments, their Lamborghinis (tractors or cars), the crazy American taking their picture.  The possibilities are endless!


More "You Know You're Italian If..." when we return...tomorrow!


Today my favorite thing about Italy is:  How much everyone loves kids.  I think I already posted this, but we were in Sacile today and Jameson was totally the star of the show.  One lady even took him out of his stroller and was carrying him around because he was getting antsy.