Is the Italy of My Dreams Fact or Fiction?

Question

Hello! I'm Italian on both sides yet have never visited Italy, or any European country for that matter. [Context: I've traveled the U.S., Canada, Mexico & Caribbean extensively. Also Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand & Seychelles]I'll be turning 50 later this year, thus my "bucket list" is consistently dominating an ever-growing percentage of mindshare.I'm enamored with the small villages, family-first ethos and local artisans seemingly delighted in their quest to produce the best cheese, sausage, salumi, etc. Most recently Stanley Tucci's "Searching for Italy" series leaves me searching for plane tickets.I'd be grateful to hear if the Italy of my dreams is real vs. fantasy.

curtisblaine · Accepted Answer

It's not unpleasant but it's exclusive. Small village life is not necessarily tourist-friendly, which from my pov is a plus. Italians from the villages will not necessarily include you in their life or treat you better, or cut you slack, because you're foreign.

marxsta3 · Answer

Italy has many regions making it up. Cuisine and even the culture in one part might be quite different to another. Rome, Vatican primarily for it's history and architecture. I can only really speak of Northern Italy, Turin, Milan, Como, Venice and can recommend it. Whether its of your dreams is hard to say, each time I went it was to see relatives and friends so I saw a more authentic side which the average tourist might not see.

ananiochita · Answer

It's an unpleasant place. Very isolated in character and practical terms from even the closest neighbours. Suspicious and dismissive of anything other than their own very local way of thinking, even within the country. People are angrier and ruder than in most other places you know, based on your list.
Let's not get started on daily life in Rome and other filthy, permanently badly managed Italian cities -- of which Milan might be an exception at times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/10/opinion/the-filthy-metaph...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/10/rome-rubbish-c...
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/in-rome-the-exploding-bu...
Etc. I could add links in other languages from Le Monde ( France ), El País ( Spain ), and pretty much any other country bordering or nearby for you to see what they say. Ask a Swiss, an Austrian, or a Slovene how it feels entering Italian roads when crossing the border. If I add my own life long experiences and expand on character and moral compass, or pride in one own's work, I'd be downvoted to oblivion and accused of making things up.
Services, transportation, infrastructure, business, food scene, daily life, safety, everything is lacking, everything's generally uncomfortable, unsettling, aggressive, and I suppose tourists don't stay long enough to see the worst, dazzled by art and ancient culture on display everywhere.
Edit : What Tucci ( or Clooney, who famously owns a house in Como and is so proud of his children speaking Italian ) say or show about Italy is not relevant or true to life. They literally make up stories for a living, act to make you feel what they want viewers to feel. They also live in a rich person's bubble and see what they want to see only. My family is in the same bubble, and good grief, is it mind-blowing when you peek out of it into real Italy.

yuppie_scum · Answer

Did you ever see the episode of The Sopranos where Paulie Walnuts goes to Italy?

nathanaldensr · Answer

/r/italy is that way -->