I’ve been putting off travel to Italy for a while now for a number of reasons. While the country is rich in culture, history and gastronomic adventure, I guess I always had the feeling that it was a little too over-the-top. Too many tourists, to much Eurotrash, and generally filthy; granted, I still wanted to go, it just wasn’t at the top of my list.
Taking advantage of a secret 275$ fare sale to Rome this month was my chance to investigate these notions first hand. And to my delight, most of the negative ideas that I held about Romans and Italians were proven false. Yes, I only got a small sampling over a long weekend in Rome, but I think that many of these observations hold true for the country year round:
- Men didn’t whistle at women. I walked around with my friend Ered for the the better part of three days and didn’t notice anyone whistle or stare. No, she’s not an ugly cow.
- Save for the subway cars, the city is fairly clean. I’m particularly impressed with the condition of the archaeological remains, namely the Roman Forum, where I didn’t see an ounce of trash on the premises.
- Not everyone was wearing D&G. In fact, most Italians appeared to dress as pleasantly as any other city dweller. Prada et al do make their appearance just outside of the Spanish Steps, but hey, every big city’s got em.
- There are WAY fewer euro-mullets than I was expecting. I saw less than a dozen the entire time I was there.
- Leather is not as ubiquitous as one would think. You always hear someone bragging about their “Italian leather so and so”, but it doesn’t just fall from the sky there. Only a few shops presented themselves as I wandered around the city.
Maybe Italy’s stereotypes aren’t as perverse as I had originally thought. Or maybe when tourist season kicks up people get crazy and the euro-mullets come out of hiding. As it stands right now though, Rome is definitely a place that I would like to visit again.