How is life in italy?

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CunningLinguist

In short, its amazing.

=D

We lived there for 4 and a half years (Friuli Venezia Giulia province near Pordenone... 60 miles NE of Venice, thereabouts), and our experience might have been a little better than most. I speak Italian and was able to immerse myself with the locals... in their culture and every day lives. The benefit in that was bonds of friendship that will never break. We loved it so much, that when I retire we plan to move back.

Some concerns... there are gypsies in Italy... mostly illegal immigrants. They like to break in and steal your gold and silver, but not anything with a serial or ID number on it.

Many businesses close down between 1230 and 330 pm for siesta, Italian style. You will find restaurants open and not much else. Also, most places close for the night at 730 pm, again restaurants and bars/cafes being the few usual exceptions.

Cell phones are awesome. The technology is about 2 years ahead of the US (on the market anyway), and you don't pay for calls you receive... just the ones you make. Home phone service is not really necessary, and charges for calls from a home phone are made per 10 seconds or so (clicks). Our first few phone bills were somewhat of a shock.

The price you see on an item is the price you pay at the register, so sticker price has the IVA, or Italian tax of 20% on most goods figured in. Yea... 20%. Not everything is taxed that high, but...20% in Italian stores did kind of suck.

The Autostrade is a great highway, but it is a toll road. In 2003, it cost appoximately 35 Euros round trip between Venice and Pisa/Florence.

Food there takes a lil getting used to, despite what you may believe. They do not typically coat their foods in salts and intense spices like we do in the US. It may even seem a little bland to you at first, but... once you have eaten that way a few times, you might not wanna eat Dominos pizza or Mom's spaghetti or lasagne ever again.

My advice would be to learn some conversational Italian first (to include some vernacular and the local dialect of places you plan to visit). Any effort you make to speak to them in their own language will be appreciated. Italians may seem a little cold/guarded/distant at first, but if you work your way in with the language, they will be as warm as any family members you've ever had.

Interested in traveling to Italy? Try my friends at:

www.viaggiunlimited.com

Despite the Euro strength, they have maintained some of the lowest fares I have seen. They can also help with hotel reservations, cruise packages and Eurorail passes, tickets etc.

Also, check out www.spacepickle.com for information useful to Americans going to north eastern Italy.

Tra dire e fare c'e di mezzo il mare!! So quit talking, and book your trip!

Per i miei amici Italiani, mi manca tanto il vostro paese, e spero di tornare appena possibile!!

Tiffany W

Amazing, full of culture, great architecture, art & food. Also great clubs.

Mandy187

Depends on where you live and your character. I'm originally from Venezuela and live in Milano and I have had some issues. I'm used to happy open people and people here are very closed and snobbish...

But I lead a safe life, where I don't have to worry every minute about being robbed, or checking the news constantly to see whats going on with the goverment because it could cause a big change in your life. So in interpersonal relations... not a fan of it... safety and condition of living... I live very well :)

james m

Safer than most places in the States (large cities),and the people ore open and friendly.They love it when you mix with their culture.Napoli is not so good (a lot of pick-pockets and break ins) but the rest of Italy is great.

Johnny Bond

Beautiful, historic, great food & culture, but the pace is too slow for me.

Dana C

I'd say pretty sweet. Wish I was there.

sandra b

I'm italian and I think that live in itali is one of the most pleasant thing in the world..if you can come here all is wonderfull....CIAO sandra..

Frankie VICE CAPA-VANDALA INVASI

I live in Florence and I'm italian!!!!!!
Life is wonderful. Italians are very friendly and lovely!!!!!!
CIAO CIAO DA FIRENZE E DALL' ITALIA!!!!!!!

Genius Cook

It's like living in any other 1st world country with all its up and downs.

Izzie My Blueberry Nights

Life is good. I have raised my child here and it seems the change has helped a lot. She's a well rounded individual, speaks four languages.

I remember, when I arrived everybody was so open and visited every ten minutes. They wanted to meet "l'americana". I was not used to this kind of treatment, so I felt weird for a long time (not in a bad way).
It took me some time to built a friendship circle, but now I have friends..very good honest friends.
The only thing I really don't get is that to get a job in many, many cases you have to know somebody. otherwise you do not get in. For a women is more difficult, specially is you are too qualified for a job.
Italians are good people in general, they are just so used to get taken advantage of, that giving you trust takes them a while.
For the rest is beautiful...there are always places to go...

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