What is your vision of Italy?

**Masdefi** · December 10th, 2002, 09:14 AM

Hi folks,
I am interested to know what your vision or opinion of Italy and Italians is. That's a huge scenary but let's try to focalize on some more interesting... food, fashion, cars, politics, travelling, sports,... so come on!

**QUINNY** · December 10th, 2002, 09:58 AM

Masdefi: OOOH! don't go there.

**SandraDee** · December 10th, 2002, 05:26 PM

I've never actually been to Italy but always wanted to go as I always liked Italian cars & disco music & men (not necessarily in that order!). The people I know who have visited Italy say its very stylish & lively but also chaotic & expensive. It also seems a country of contrasts with the north being totally different to the south & the rural areas being totally different to the cities, but I s'pose this is true of many countries. Sexually, it seems fascinating being on one hand very strictly religious & on the other hand very flirty & adventurous (I remember seeing a documentary about how transexual & transvestite prostitutes are more in demand by Italian men than anywhere else in the world!!)

**Masdefi** · December 11th, 2002, 06:12 AM

Originally Written by QUINNY

Masdefi: OOOH! don't go there.

Hi Quinny, don't be afraid! Please let us know your opinion... :lol: :lol: :lol:

**QUINNY** · December 11th, 2002, 08:25 AM

Masdefi: It wasn't mine, but possibly others views that I thought might offend. viz:
Italy is not a place I think of an awful lot,even though I know you're there. In restaurants, pizza and pasta are the most overpriced foods in England. Your football isn't all it used to be, neither are the cars (what is your obsession with fast cars?). Opera still has loads of public money spent on it in this country, which upsets the 99.5% of the population who don't go to it. The Romans probably did more for the world than any of us realise. You have the most corrupt politicians in Europe. Italian men are overly vain, although both men and women can be incredibly chic and elegant. You're latin, we're not.
That's what others might write, but I wouldn't dare. :) I just don't know enough about Italy.

**paul** · December 11th, 2002, 12:44 PM

My vision of Italy is one of savory wines, over rated cars, hearty foods, historic sites and perhaps Italy's best treasure, drop dead gorgeous women full of passion :P

**HustleBaby** · December 11th, 2002, 11:32 PM

When I think of Italy, I think of tasty foods and rich pastries, exotic landscapes, fabulous fashions (Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Missoni etc...), expensive sports cars, historic tourist attractions (Coliseum), great wines, exquisite art and handsome passionate men.

I know of several women (all african-american) that traveled to Italy and they said that the italian men were very friendly; in other words, they were much more open-minded than their american counterparts regarding interracial dating.

I don't know too much about Sicily, most of the things that I've heard about it were negative. So you can enlighten me.

I would like to visit Italy and my cities of choice would be Rome, Milan, Venice and Florence. I was told that Naples, Genoa, Venezia and Bologna were nice places to visit as well. While I'm in the region, I might as well visit Capri.

DELIGHTFUL*

**Masdefi** · December 13th, 2002, 06:09 PM

Okay boys, thanks a lot for your comments. I have to say that mostly Italian vision is poisoned by some negative comments from people that has never come here, as quinny. But I think that it's worth a visit in Italy, if you are curious and to see how's lifestyle here and how's changed since almost 10 years. Of course there's something true as regarding for example the politics (corruption) but who can say I'm clean? Let's take Chirac: he wasted public money for eating! :-? But I don't want to talk about politics, but all the other subjects. I think all who come in italy is willing to come back again... hey Kelvy, do you confirm?
Anyway thanks a lot for your comments and quinny.... I have been just one time in England, Manchester, and I will always remember a "great" lifestyle :lol: full of gooood meal :lol: and a very very gooood breakfast :lol: (I'm joking)---- Excuse me!
Cheers

**SandraDee** · December 13th, 2002, 06:37 PM

Masdefi, if you ever come to manchester again let me know & I will show you the best places for finding disco records & you can peruse my collection (records I mean, for all you smutty people who thought it was some naughty euphemism!) any time!

**QUINNY** · December 13th, 2002, 07:21 PM

But Masdefi, my old mucker, I was saying what other people might say. I might even end up in Italy one day, to spend the rest of my life. Puglia looks interesting to me, especially the trulli houses. I'd love to live in one of those and I cook pasta at least twice a week (I'm 0.001% Italian already). :lol:

**Nano** · December 13th, 2002, 09:23 PM

Hi Masdefi, actually I have Spaniard & Italian blood in my veins (like most people in Argentina) and my last name is VERY Italian (it's in my mail address). Anyway, I don't have many contacts with my father's family and so I don't know from where in Italy they came from. I'm told the North (Milano) is very sophisticated and cultivated, and the South is like most Alberto Sordi & Vittorio Gassman comedies, that is, very similar to our country.
I was told once I had a Sicilian face, and I live in a Buenos Aires neighborhood called Palermo, so go figure! Sometimes I see a Padrino movie and think my family had some connection with that world... And I must confess I kinda like it! 8)
Italian cinema was very popular here until the Nineties (lately it seems only Hollywood gets a release round here), and people like Sordi, Gassman, Mastroianni, Fellini and even Roberto Benigni are very well known here. Some months ago I laughed my ass off seeing "I Mostri", that movie in sketches with all the greats. It reads like life in Argentina! :)
A friend of mine called Quattordio went to Europe some years ago and he found the Italy city from where all his family came from. He has a photo of him standing in a snowy road, next to a route sign that reads: "Quattordio" (yes, it's the name of the town. Remember Vito Corleone was really Vito from Corleone and some U.S. Customs bureaucrat misheard his name).
Masdefi, maybe you can tell me if there's a town called Chiappussi...

**Masdefi** · December 14th, 2002, 03:46 AM

Originally Written by QUINNY

But Masdefi, my old mucker, I was saying what other people might say. I might even end up in Italy one day, to spend the rest of my life. Puglia looks interesting to me, especially the trulli houses. I'd love to live in one of those and I cook pasta at least twice a weak.

Hey Quinny,
take a shower and relax!
Once I called you "Sir", should I call you "Lord"?? :lol:

**JussiK** · December 17th, 2002, 08:43 AM

I could live 75% by Italian things only. Enviroments? During the summer the Piazza on the island of Capri is the center of the universe, and what about Via Montenapoleone in Milano, Via Margutta and Via Frattina in Roma, a Grodino with ice under the arches in Bologna, after dinner at the Ristorante Diana. Dolce Far Niente in Positano. Furniture? "Arco" lamp by Alfredo Castiglioni, chairs by Joe Colombo. Food? Anytime, every day please, forget everything else - prosciutto con melone, fiore di zucca, Spaghetti alla Norma, those Sicilian sausages, Saltimbocca, pannacotta. Fashion? I want to live in Armani, Prada, D&G and black jeans by Trussardi, grazie. Transportation? That'll be shoes by Prada - I cannot afford to buy a Masarati. Luckily we get Pendolino trains here and the same sleek green trams that they have in Rome. Cinema? I could watch 60's, 70's and early 80's Italian films and nothing else. The Tenth Victim by Elio Petri, Diabolik by Mario Bava, Roma by Fellini, Suspiria by Argento, all the fabulous giallos, crime films, ott horror movies, erotic dramas with incredibly stylish set designs and cool jazzy scores by Piero Picconi or Ennio Morricone.

I do know all about the corruption of the juridical system and Signor Berlusconi and all that but still, offer me a job in Italy and I'll move permanently in a flash.

I'm waiting, make yourself useful, Masdefi. :-)

**jazz_pilgrim** · December 17th, 2002, 08:57 AM

My son is a Middlesbrough supporter (we're talking football here!) and he has gone mad about their latest Italian import - Masimo Maccarone! His favourite player in the whole world!!

:D

**QUINNY** · December 17th, 2002, 09:10 AM

Jussik: What's stopping you? I'm sure you could make a go of it in Italy, especially as you are so much into the Italian culture. It only takes a little imagination to see yourself there.
In the next 20 years there's going to be a huge migration happening in Europe. May as well start planning yours now, eh?