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**SOCIETY & CONDUCT**	

 It is difficult to make blanket assertions about Italian culture, if only because Italians have only lived as one nation for a little over 100 years. Prior to unification, the peninsula was long subject to widely varied mix of masters and cultures. This lack of unity contributed to the maintenance of local dialects and customs. Only with the advent of national TV did the spread of a standard Italian language begin. Previously it was not unusual to find farmers and villagers who spoke only their local dialect.

Italians at a World Cup football match may present a patriotic picture but most Italians identify more with their region or even home town – a phenomenon known as *campanilismo* (an attachment to one’s local bell tower!). An Italian is first and foremost a Sicilian or Tuscan, or even a Roman, Milanese or Neapolitan , before being Italian.

Confronted with a foreigner, however, Italians will energetically reveal a national pride difficult to detect in the relationships they have with each other.


Stereotypes

 Foreigners may think of Italians as passionate, animated people who gesticulate wildly when speaking, love to eat and drive like maniacs. There’s a lot more to it than that, however.

Journalist Luigi Barzini has defined his compatriots as a hard-working , resilient and resourceful people who are optimistic and have a good sense of humour. If you really feel that you have subscribe to a national stereotype, Barzini’s description is probably closer to the truth.
	
Italians are also passionately loyal to their friends and families – all-important qualities, noted Barzini, since ’a happy private life helps people to tolerate an appalling public life’.

Italians have a strong distrust of authority and when confronted with a silly rule, an unjust law or a stupid order (and they are reularly confrontated with many of them) they don’t complain or try to change rules, but rather try to find the quickest way round them.

Family

 The family remains of central importance in the fabric of Italian society, particularly in the south. Most young Italians tend to stay at home until they marry, a situation admittedly partly exacerbated by the lack of affordable housing. Still, modern attitudes have begun to erode the traditions. Statistics show that one three married couples has no children and one in nine chidren is born out of wedding. In Milan, for example, more than one-third of families are headed by a single parent, two-third of whom are women.

Dos & Don’ts

 Italians tend to be tolerant but – despite an apparent obsession with (mostly female) nakedness, especially n advertising – they are not excessively free and easy.

In some parts of Italy, particularly in the south, women will be harassed if they wear skimpy or see-through clothing. Topless sunbathing, while not uncommon on some Italian beaches, is not alway acceptable. Take your cue from other sunbathers. Nude sunbathing is likely to be offensive anywhere but on appropriately designated beaches. Walking the streets near beaches in a bikini or skimpy costume is also not on and on Venice Lido it’ll get you a fine.

It would be nice to see more travellers wandering around with an awareness of local sensibilities. Visitors all too often seem to leave manners and common sense at home. In the main tourist centres, locals are by now used to the sight of men wandering around in little more than a pair of shorts and (maybe) sandals. But you have to ask yourself, if you wouldn’t walk around like that in your town, why do so in someone else’s? Remember that most people find sunscorched bellies a grim sight, so Italians, known for their delight in dressing well, will probably be even more repulsed.

In churches you are expected to dress modestly. This means no shorts (for men or women) or short skirts, and shoulders should be covered. Those that are major tourist attractions, such as St Peter’s in Rome and San Francesco in Assisi, enforce strict dress codes. Churches are places of worship so if you visit one during a service (which you should refrain from doing) , try to be as incospicuous as possible.

The police and carabinieri have the right to arrest you for insulting a state official if they believe you have been rude or offensive, so be diplomatic in your dealings with them!


*(lonely planet, italy, 5th edition)*