Insider tips for your trip to Italy. What do you have on your itinerary: Florence, Venice and also the Amalfi Coast? You will probably (quite logically) try to see as much as possible.
No matter how full your sightseeing calendar is - if you take time for these things, you will experience Italy like the locals do. 100 per cent and pure. The best news is that these experiences won't cost you a penny, if at all. Full contact with Italy and the Italian way of life guaranteed.
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To experience the real Italy, sometimes you should simply do nothing: enjoy the bella vita. Here are our TOP 4!
1. have a look around privately
This is pure Italian life. As Signora Rossi hangs the laundry out of the window, she discovers Donna Ferrari downstairs again after a long time: "Oh no, what a joy - what are the children doing? "Thanks to the volume of the conversation, everyone can hear the joy and how the children are doing. Then the baker's boy rattles up on his Vespa with the bread delivery, his sister is getting married, "How are the wedding preparations going?„
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Even if you don't understand a word of Italian - just walk through a normal Italian residential area. The best time to do this is in the late afternoon, early evening - when the smell of fresh tomato sauce wafts out of the windows, while the pensioners from the bar still have everything in view, the children are playing football in the street and everyone is up for a little chat.
Italy in its pure form is best enjoyed pure. Put the camera away, just look and feel. And apart from that: probably no one wants to be photographed hanging out the washing.
2. get a round of appetite
In and around the tourist areas, you will usually find many small shops and kiosks offering products for daily needs, drinks and snacks - usually also souvenirs and sunglasses. This may be practical for a quick purchase in between, but Italian shopping looks quite different....
Go to a "supermercato". Attention, spoilers: It's going to be WOW! When you see the metre-long rows of shelves with pasta and spaghetti, in the next aisle huge pallets of tomato cans, "oglio" and "balsamico" a gear up. Food porn to watch.
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You'll feel the same way at a market. The sales talk, the strolling, huge lemons (as big as a honeydew melon) and the most fragrant tomatoes ever. Maximum sensory overload. Chats in between included.
On the way there, you see the extremely well-groomed senior citizen with freshly ondulated curls and pearl earrings pushing her basket on her walking cart (unique in Italy), the mother shopping for dinner with four children, the young couple smooching more than anything else.
P. S. Before you go shopping, think carefully about HOW MANY kilos of air you still have in your suitcase...
3. take the bus and train
A little adventure is allowed: Find the nearest bus or train stop and just get on. In the big cities, there are usually cheap day tickets. An inexpensive pleasure - and you are right in the middle of it and feel the real life!
It doesn't matter if you go in circles or just get off wherever you want. A really cheap way to immerse yourself. Everyday Italian life is on the side, watch and enjoy.
4. get a taste of university air...
Italy has shaped the European higher education landscape. The first university in Europe was founded in 1088 - in Bologna. Today there are 89 universities in Italy.
The largest university in Europe today is in Rome, the University of La Sapienza (Italian: sapienza = wisdom), officially Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza". A good 30 percent of Italian women and about 20 percent of Italians have a university degree.
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If you're in a city with a university (almost every city in Italy has a university), you should breathe academic air. Whether you sit down in the square in front of the university with a panino or have a coffee in a student café, the atmosphere is incredibly invigorating. And - you can bet on it - you'll have at least one to three nice conversations....
5. say buongiorno....
You are strolling through a few sleepy alleys, a nice elderly gentleman is sitting on a bench in front of his house, the pizza maker is looking out of the back door, a woman is hanging the laundry out of the window - they all look at you somehow questioningly. Just say "buongiorno".
Especially in the countryside, in a small village, it's kind of expected of you. As a guest, you greet and in 79 percent of the cases you talk nicely (if you don't speak Italian, probably with hands and feet). And when you meet your new acquaintance again on the street, maybe even a day later, it somehow already feels like friendship.
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P.S. It's best to say "buongiorno" (until about 5 p.m.) or "buonasera" (from about 5 p.m.), "Ciao" is used in Italy for friends, acquaintances and family.
And the best for the end: In principle, you can't go wrong in Italy. Be open-minded, let yourself be inspired and don't completely over-plan your schedule. Time for bella vita is always allowed - and that feels like Italy. ...
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written by Annie Kayser, first published on 14.2.22
Sources: Countless trips through Italy, countless conversations with Italian friends, locals and other travellers.
