1. Food
Walking into some restaurants around the world, tourists can easily order beef noodle soup. However, this dish does not exist in Italy. Or chicken parmesan with Alfredo sauce, which is a familiar Italian dish in many countries, when coming here, even Italians do not know what it is.
2. Dinner is a marathon
Italians eat a very full dinner. Dinner is divided into 3 parts: appetizer (primo) which usually starts with pasta, main course (secondo) which consists of meat or fish; dessert (dolce) which consists of fruit or ice cream. Dinner is a time for the whole family to gather, so everyone will eat very slowly so that they can tell many stories together. Unlike the hurried, quick eating habits of many Western countries, even after finishing eating, Italians still sit together, savor the remaining dishes and continue the unfinished story.
3. Italians are very afraid of the cold.
Italians do not like winter. As soon as there is a sign of winter, they will equip themselves with hats, shirts, gloves, sweaters, coats... as if they were from Asian countries.
4. Papa with Papa
In Italian, Papà means “father” and Papa means Pope. Obviously, with this pronunciation, many tourists will confuse the Italian way of calling father and Pope.
5. Motorbikes have “rights”
Once they jump on the scooters, they will go full throttle, sometimes bumping into other people, but they don’t seem to notice. Italians are generally pretty crazy drivers, so tourists should take precautions to avoid them.
6. Carb-centric, but everyone is skinny
Italians eat a lot of high-calorie foods, like pizza, pasta, biscotti, and dozens of delicious breads and pastries. But few people are obese. Is it a miracle or is it just that Italians have different genes than other countries? Many visitors always wonder about that when they come here.
7. Alcohol is everywhere
Wine is everywhere and always comes with a tempting offer. Guests can treat themselves to a glass after breakfast and take a glass to go with lunch. The wine is served in a small carafe for one meal.
8. Chestnuts reign supreme
Sometimes you have to search through the endless array of nuts and butters on supermarket shelves to find the one that suits you. In Italy, however, everything is made from chestnuts. Pictured are the most popular products.
9. Aperiviti
This is a rather unusual form of restaurant. Accordingly, you will have to pay for a portion of drinks and food. However, sometimes the food portion is just a very small appetizer, sometimes it is an attractive buffet.
10. There is no such thing as coffee here.
Instead of drinking a medium or large cup of coffee, in Italy you can only enjoy cappuccino for breakfast or espresso throughout the day, served in a small cup. However, the taste is still so perfect that no one can refuse.
