#italophile

Words Non-Italians Use to Describe Italy [Wordcloud]

The city of Turin was the first Capital of Italy, followed by Florence and then Rome;

According to the legend, Rome was founded by the twins Romolo and Remo, who were abandoned in a basket on River Tevere and found by a she-wolf;

The Most Serene Republic of Venice was the longest-lived Republic in the history of time. It lasted from the end of the 7th century AD until 1797;

The city of Genoa is known around the country as “the capital city of the songwriters”. The so-called “Genoese school of songwriters” is a movement born in the 1960s which determined a fracture with the previous Italian Popular Song;

Italian people working in the showbiz are very superstitious and think that wearing purple on stage brings bad luck;

In Italy it’s bad form gifting chrysanthemums as they are only to be used in the cemeteries;

Italy is the country with the highest number of sites belonging to the Unesco World Heritage with 53 inscribed properties. The majority is represented by cultural sites and only 4  are natural;

Neorealism officially began with Roberto Rossellini’s movie “Roma Città Aperta” ( Rome Open City). It was shot in 1945, when Nazis were still present in the capital city;

Italians believe in the importance of the principle of “food’s seasonality”: one should only eat fruits and vegetables which belong to the season one finds oneself in;

Italians are affected by “campanilismo” ( a derivative of the word “campanile” = bell tower ), which is the excessive bond one has for the hometown and the connected customs and traditions. It often leads to rivalry toward the nearby towns;

Italians allow themselves the luxury of living and showing the whole spectrum of the human emotions, they do not restrain or “censor” themselves. They won’t show a happy face if they don’t feel like it, nor avoid to speak up if they’re angry about something;

Italians are very disillusioned, despite being described as one of the most joyous people in the world. If on one hand this attitude permits Italians to enjoy life as it is and allow people not to feel particularly bad if they’re not successful in the eyes of the world, on the other hand it makes Italians hypercritical and leads them to sort of hate on those who are successful.