I'm reading this book with one of my Italian students and really enjoying it. I love the way that this Indian author captures so beautifully so many of the Italian idiosyncrasies. Laila Wadia combines irony and humour as she writes of her arrival in Italy and her slow integration into Italian society. I'd recommend it to both Italian enthusiasts and native Italians, who perhaps don't stop to think about some of their own customs and the experience of a foreigner in Italy.
What strange things stood out for you in a trip to Italy?
One of my favourites is the parking. I remember strolling in the Navigli area of Milan on a Saturday night and being surprised that many Italian motorists had mistaken the roundabouts around there for overflow car parking spaces!
Whilst we are on the subject of cars, it's fair to say that driving on an Italian motorway is rather different to an English one. Large stretches of the motorway network are 2 lane, with slow lorries in the right- hand lane and often extremely fast cars in the left. In England, we ,on the whole, politely wait for a car to overtake a lorry and then move back over. In Italy the etiquette of patience is replaced with the custom of riding the bumper of the car in front of you, whilst flashing your headlights and madly gesticulating!
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