Living in Italy – Enjoying the Dolce Vita

Among the main reasons for moving to Italy most people would list the Italian lifestyle, the weather, the food and wine and the Italian language and culture. In this series of articles we will look at the best way to make the most of your stay in one of the world’s most exciting countries.

Most Italians when asked where they are from will say something like: Sono siciliano or sono neapolitano. The pride in the place you and your family were born is ever present. And that place, wherever it is, naturally has the best food in Italy, speaks the purest Italian, has the most beautiful people and the most attractive landscape.

This intense loyalty an Italian feels for his region, town, or even part of his town, has its roots in history. Very often neighbour fought neighbour as the various city states or Papal States, ruling families and political factions clashed and battled it out on a regular basis.

Italy has only been one country for a comparatively short time, when the Risorgimento movement culminated in the creation of Kingdom of Italy in 1861. So Italy is really a lot of little countries, each with their own history, culture and traditions. The love of your region, your province even your town or village has a name - campanilismo. A campanile is a bell tower and the name refers to the loyalty an Italian feels towards the area presided over by that particular tower. (A bit like a true Cockney Londoner being someone born within the sound of Bow Bells.) Citizens from different areas competed to build the highest towers. The city of San Gimignano in Tuscany has 14 of them!

Modern Campanilismo

You only have to go to an Italian football match to see the campanilismo extended to the football team you support. For an even more vivid example, go to Siena in Tuscany and watch the Palio, a bareback horse race where jockeys from ten of Siena’s 17 contrade (city wards) race around the Piazza del Campo for the honour of their contrada. Family is pitched against family and even husbands and wives may be supporters of different contrade. An Italian from Siena in a recent tv documentary was asked why he was celebrating. Had his contrada won? ‘No,’ he replied. ‘But my enemy lost.’ Campanilismo runs very deep.

This pride is not all negative; it can bring a city together, as is pointed out by Henry Porter in his Observer article on the Palio: “Siena has the third highest involvement in voluntary organisations and was chosen as "national best practice" for its innovations in sustainable government and e-government. Siena's crime rate is way below the national average.” Campanilismo and the Foreigner While Italians will criticise emoderach other, particularly if they are from another town or village with ‘a history’, a straniero (foreigner) will be forgiven a lot. You can drink cappuccino with your dinner, have wine when there’s no food on the table, sit in the sun on a hot day and dress oddly. You will be taken to everyone’s hearts if you participate with enthusiasm in the local celebrations – the village festa or sagra, if you shop at the local market and use local tradespeople. Ask locals for their recommendations as to where to buy the best logs or the best olive oil. Eat where they eat. Try not to develop a superior attitude of ‘in England/the USA we always do it like this.’ Italians will join in the criticism - they love a good moan – but they are allowed to criticise, you are not.

If you embrace the local village and do your best to understand why people behave as they do, while still being true to yourself and your nationality, your stay in Italy will be richly rewarded.

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