help with clothing & cultural questions about Rome

[rjmaiorano]

Originally Posted by Zegnamtl

I completely disagree with that assessment of Italians.
They have been very nice, very helpful and very open and always willing to try to communicate to the best of their ability.


I missed that first time through. But I disagree as well, I have never had to deal with rude Italians. Granted most I'm with are Italian, but I've never seen it either.

 

[Golf_Nerd]

Originally Posted by Zegnamtl

I completely disagree with that assessment of Italians.
They have been very nice, very helpful and very open and always willing to try to communicate to the best of their ability ...

... the Italians will be happy to see you (and your tourist dollars).

So you completely disagree and finally write the same.

As long as you don't speak italian and will live the rest of your life there you are seen as a tourist. And they want the best: your money.

So to be very nice, very helpful and very open and always willing to try to communicate to the best of their ability means not that they are interessted in anyone!!!

That is the way they live and that is OK for me!

 

[Zegnamtl]

Originally Posted by Golf_Nerd

So you completely disagree and finally write the same.

As long as you don't speak italian and will live the rest of your life there you are seen as a tourist. And they want the best: your money.

So to be very nice, very helpful and very open and always willing to try to communicate to the best of their ability means not that they are interessted in anyone!!!

That is the way they live and that is OK for me!

G.N.,

In perhaps 15 or so trips to Italy over the last 20 or so years, I can think of only one man who was truly "rude" with me. In Naples, a man who was angered because I was walking three people across (arm in arm) on the sidewalk and he felt I was walking too slowly.
That is it!

Perhaps I have not seen a side of Italy that may exist for some, as I, and my family, are quite, discreet, and do not make a fuse or a commotion or get upset of silly details. Perhaps in passing, you have seen merchants dealing badly with a client because he was out of line or unruly, I can well imagine that happens in Italy as well as everywhere.

When I wrote, and your tourist dollars, I did not imply that they will be hypocritical and polite just to take your money. Most are just happy to see people in their country enjoying and keeping the economy going (Venice may be an exception to this, not even sure how many true locals still reside in San Marco anymore).

I do not expect the locals to adopt me when I travel. I have never stayed in the country for longer than 3 1/2 or 4 weeks at a time, so I am not sure what you mean by "live their the rest of your life", I have not tried to live there and therefor have not encountered barriers that one may if they wish to settle down and establish themselves there, but neither is NukeMeSlowly, he is visiting for one week.

Is it from attempting to live and work in Italy that your experience arose?

I have walked into a hotel in Florence and asked for directions to another hotel where I had a booking, and the desk clerk sent a chamber maid to walk me down to the street to my hotel.

I have asked a local for directions to a fine paper and pen shop in Rome, in the rain, the woman replied, if you get lost, you will get wet in the weather, and walked my daughters and I to the door.

I have trespassed and had a pic nic in the shade of a tree on the edge of a vineyard while driving from Tuscany to Umbria, and have the owner drive up in a tractor and say hello, give us a bottle of water and tell us if we wanted to walk the vineyard, we may, but stay on the paths and do not stray.

I have never found a single Italian who would not answer a question or help when asked. I can not say that for Paris.

Like NYC, Italy gets a bad rap for many things, I have always (Ok, maybe after the mid 80s or so) found NY'ers to be very nice too, and even more so after Sept. 11.

Italy's reputation is far worse than its actual bite.
Other than the street hawkers and the gypsies, I have found them to be a very nice people.

Some say in Venice there are three prices, one for the tourists, one for fellow Italians, and one for the locals. This type of behavior goes on in every corner of the earth. Book a room in NYC and the very same room may change ion price by 150 dollars depending on what events are planned in the city that day.

 

[Zegnamtl]

G.N.

My two daughters (late teens) read this over my shoulder just now after I mentioned it to them (it is a holiday here, no school today) and both said when they went to Italy on school trips (two separate trips) they did encounter the very odd "rude" person.

Both agreed, when an Italian is nice, they are really nice,
when they are rude, they can be nasty rude.

This is a side of Italy I have never seen.

 

[Golf_Nerd]

Originally Posted by Zegnamtl

G.N.,

In perhaps 15 or so trips to Italy over the last 20 or so years, I can think of only one man who was truly "rude" with me. In Naples, a man who was angered because I was walking three people across (arm in arm) on the sidewalk and he felt I was walking too slowly.
That is it!

Perhaps I have not seen a side of Italy that may exist for some, as I, and my family, are quite, discreet, and do not make a fuse or a commotion or get upset of silly details. Perhaps in passing, you have seen merchants dealing badly with a client because he was out of line or unruly, I can well imagine that happens in Italy as well as everywhere.

When I wrote, and your tourist dollars, I did not imply that they will be hypocritical and polite just to take your money. Most are just happy to see people in their country enjoying and keeping the economy going (Venice may be an exception to this, not even sure how many true locals still reside in San Marco anymore).

I do not expect the locals to adopt me when I travel. I have never stayed in the country for longer than 3 1/2 or 4 weeks at a time, so I am not sure what you mean by "live their the rest of your life", I have not tried to live there and therefor have not encountered barriers that one may if they wish to settle down and establish themselves there, but neither is NukeMeSlowly, he is visiting for one week.

Is it from attempting to live and work in Italy that your experience arose?

I have walked into a hotel in Florence and asked for directions to another hotel where I had a booking, and the desk clerk sent a chamber maid to walk me down to the street to my hotel.

I have asked a local for directions to a fine paper and pen shop in Rome, in the rain, the woman replied, if you get lost, you will get wet in the weather, and walked my daughters and I to the door.

I have trespassed and had a pic nic in the shade of a tree on the edge of a vineyard while driving from Tuscany to Umbria, and have the owner drive up in a tractor and say hello, give us a bottle of water and tell us if we wanted to walk the vineyard, we may, but stay on the paths and do not stray.

I have never found a single Italian who would not answer a question or help when asked. I can not say that for Paris.

Like NYC, Italy gets a bad rap for many things, I have always (Ok, maybe after the mid 80s or so) found NY'ers to be very nice too, and even more so after Sept. 11.

Italy's reputation is far worse than its actual bite.
Other than the street hawkers and the gypsies, I have found them to be a very nice people.

Some say in Venice there are three prices, one for the tourists, one for fellow Italians, and one for the locals. This type of behavior goes on in every corner of the earth. Book a room in NYC and the very same room may change ion price by 150 dollars depending on what events are planned in the city that day.

Hmmm, too many words for me!

I said: ... so to be very nice, very helpful and very open ... blablabla ... means not that they are interessted in anyone!!!

You said: ... truly "rude"

Are we talking about the same thing?!

 

[HORNS]

First, a truism: you get what you put into it. The way you approach the people of Rome, who themselves live in a bustling city and are trying to live their own lives, will dictate how they treat you in return.


I was there in late March, early April, and I found them incredibly gracious. They speak much less English than, say, the French, but they will still speak better English than you speak Italian! And they will be more than willing to try their best to accommodate you - and it's not just for the money in your pocket.

Make note while you are there on the passion in their voices and the way they talk to each other while on the street or when they walk into a cafe. It put me aback at first because I tend to be more reticent, but then I quickly appreciated it as just a manifestation of their general personalities.

A specific behavior that I noted while there was that when a woman (or man) walked into a restaurant, cafe, or around other people, everyone stopped what they were doing to gather around and adore the baby. The people working in the cafe would come from behind the counter to see the child! The first time I saw this assumed the woman was the owner or the owner's wife of the shop. But I saw this happen at least 4-5 times while in Italy. I don't really know what this says specifically about the Italian/Roman people, but it certainly says something positive about their character.

 

[poliziano]

Hi, I am Italian myself - Venetian, not Roman, but still...

1) Dress anyway you want. Shorts are not as popular as in the States. Wear socks and sandals and they'll think you're from Germany.

2) Public toilets: good luck with that. In total honesty, I don't know about public toilets in Washington DC for that matter....anyway do what the Romans do: get a coffee and use the bathroom. Which brings me to the coffee issue....

3) Yes, you can get decaf anywhere. Just ask for whatever you want but specify "decaeffinato" like in "un espresso decaeffinato, per favore"

4) Romans and other Italians in major cities will try their best to speak to you in English. Broken English, mainly British English but still English. Try to learn some words in Italian and pronounce them right: it's a nice and polite thing to do.

5) You can use your credit card amost everywhere.

Let me know if I can be of any additional help.
Enjoy your vacation.

Buon viaggio!

 

[mensimageconsultant]

Bring some linen shirts. Seersucker or madras, too, if you have any. Long-sleeves are better, for sun protection. Do wear a hat. Start stocking up on antioxidants and supplemental vitamin D now - you'll bake less as a result.

 

[John Ellis]

It's a wonderful city. And it's a walking city although as we all know built on seven hills. It's pretty hot in June but not terribly humid. You need comfortable shoes and loose cotton and linen clothing for the day, and if going out somewhere more upmarket a tropical weight wool suit because the temperature can actually drop a bit in the evenings. Most interesting activity people watching in places like the Piazza Navona. The women are very handsome, the best looking in Europe imho, and generally very stylishly dressed. It can be a slog but the churches are worth doing. I'm totally uninterested in religion although my wife is and I did not go willingly but at the end of the schlep around what seemed like dozens of them it was worth it. There are also some interesting street markets in working and lower middle class areas which are worth searching out not so much because of the merchandize as the characters one sees there and because there are lots of cheap little eateries in these areas with no translated menus but you get by and frankly it's hard to make a bad pick because it's all good. Masses of little bars of course, if you like rather stylish, but expensive ones, the bar at the Hotel Inghiliterra is tiny but enjoyable. Ernest Hemingway's favorite watering hole in Rome apparently. Have a good time.