Lorna at Vicenza

What do you all love about living here - and what do you hate?

I love Prosecco - so good and soooo much cheaper than champagne.

I hate the girl in the Post Office who tells me that my envelopes are too small or too big to post.

I love sitting out at bars in the summer time with friends and an 'aperitivo'

I hate Italian drivers who never seem to indicate but just brake and turn.

I hate not having enough street lights on many roads here and NO cats eyes on motorways.

I love the big open-air swimming pools.

I hate that everything is closed from 12.30 til 4pm.

I hate sending my little girl to school on Saturday mornings.

I love the pizzas but hate polenta.

I love the fact that my mother-in-law is great and not an interfering busybody.

I love the architecture.

I hate the crappy Italian game shows, talk shows and soap-operas.

What about you ?

Beep

I cant stand Pippo Baudo....he has a face I want to slap.

I love the open air pools too.........there are so many within spitting distance of me..roll on summer.

I love balconies with lots of flowers.

I love Aperol Spritz.

I love that even though I live near a bar I have yet to see someone drunk.

I hate the openess of prostituition here and having to explain it too my son.

I love the view from Castell San Pietro.

I love that you can bring kids to a restaurant without being looked at as if you had two heads

Lorna at Vicenza

Pippo Baudo - what about Mike Buongiorno and Maurizio Costanzo - they are even older than Old Parkinson on British TV - at least Parki is watchable.

Beep

Yes but he just gets on my nerves.....he's so smug(Baudo not Parkinson)

After just driving home from picking my son up from rugby I have to add another hate

There is a bottle neck going under a bridge just after a set of traffic lights with a junction and there is always a queue but this is mainly caused by people ignoring the traffic lights and just pushing to get into the line regardless of the colour of the lights........If everyone waited their turn there wouldnt be such a queue....ARRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Lorna at Vicenza

Most of the traffic lights here seem to be getting replaced by roundabouts - which is fine until some oldie doesn't know how to get onto one - doesn't respect the give way signs and once on it doesn't know which lane to be in to then get off again.
Patience - and as I have learnt recently thanks to my daughter - swear under your breath or use innocent expletives .... or is that a contradiction in terms ?

chris120

I love that "couldn't care less" attitude and I am trying hard to adopt it.

Lorna at Vicenza

Is that a couldn't care less attitude on the roads ? not advisable in some areas as even though the Italians don't yet seem to have a word for Road Rage - they sure know how to peep their horns and flash thier lights ..... or is that a "I'd better just sit back and accept that is the way things work here" kind of attitude.
I have learnt not to rant about every little thing that doesn't seem to work - especially in bureaucratic circles but it does also pay to speak up sometimes - the Italians are so scared of a brutta figura that they will sometimes do what you want just to shut you up !!!!! lol

yellowdog

Genoan Short Arms.
Nobs on scooters.
MY GP that does only open surgery so I have to waste 2 hrs.
Not being able to do most things on the phone.
Complete lack of responsibility and not thinking of others when driving and parking.
Work ethic - wouldn't know hard work if it bought them a pizza.
Bureaucracy - I start work next month in a government post so I'm going to have a real problem with this.
Saying what you really think - scared of the brutta figura. Not easy being a Yorkshireman.
Narrow roads and streets - Genoa thing.

I like the food wine and weather. Genova is never too cold or too hot.
The architecture and the way that in Genova all the houses are higgledy piggledy one on top of each other. My wife, she's italian.

Lorna at Vicenza

Is that knobs on scooters as in buttons and dials etc.
Or knobs on scooters as in silly people driving them ?? (ha ha)

ballerina

I love everything with only 2 exceptions.. hairdressers and bras.
Hairdressers in Italy are stuck in a timewarp. They INSIST on blowdrying my very thick naturally wavy hair smooth and staight, extremley painful and they use the excuse that straightners 'cook' the hair.... at lest they don't burn the skin off my scalp and face and pull my hair out at the roots! they also never listen to what you actually want your hair to look like, ignore pictures, and love chopping in lot of very short layers (think the 'Rachel'style of 1992...yikes!) very old fashioned techniques...

Bras.... why do they not make proper bra sizes here??? this has been something that baffled me from day one!

I love everything else, with particular favour for the food and the weather. I don't complain about everything else I don't like about Italy because i chose to live here. I just grumble occassionally about the lack of decent fashion shops and choice in Rome and how rubbish the telly is... but i'm sure i didn't come to live here for the telly!

Lorna at Vicenza

Oh God yes the bras - so diffcult to find a decent fit and even harder trying to find a good bikini - they just don't seem to make them with any adjustable straps or festenings !!!

I have curly hair and I either come out of the hairdresser's with it blow dried straight or frizzed up into a big mess. I usually wash mine as soon as I get home. Last time I arranged to go to a salon with my hair already washed and combed and in a damp plait - they trimmed it, put it back in the plait and I came home. They thought I was mad leaving with damp hair but i chuffed ... it took half the time - none of the hasle and even better - cost me half the price !!!!

yellowdog

the latter

yellowdog

Yes after living in London for 5 years I do agree about hairdressers being out of date.
When I lived at Brescia my hairdresser used to go at least three times a year to london for a few days to Toni and Guys to keep up to date with the techniques.
I can't talk about bras but I do find it strange that when people think of fashion and style they think about Italy but as far as high street shops go the Uk is way better.

Beep

Bras.... why do they not make proper bra sizes here??? this has been something that baffled me from day one!

If you are unlucky enough to be cursed with generous boobs its well nigh impossible to find a nice bra or bikini........apparently the only bigger sizes in bras seem to be in styles for nonnas!!!

genzana

I love the traditional ways of doing things (my neighbour even makes her own soap!). But I hate the ingrained corruption - like the way that Guardia di Finanza never seem to pay for things.

I love the friendliness of the people, and how they can't do enough to help you. But I hate the way old men stare!

I love the way Italians tell it like it is, compared to us reserved Brits! But I hate the way Italians have no qualms about being racist, sexist, ageist... etc.

I love the breadth of history that you see everywhere. I wish Italians valued it more.

I love the quality of life and the priority placed on work-life balance. But I hate standing outside shut shops/offices wondering when they might open.

I adore Italian home cooking. I hate it when Italian "mammoni" sons complain at their mothers and don't appreciate how great the cooking is!