When I initially departed for my four months abroad, I left with goodbyes, warm wishes and warnings that life in Italy is very different than life in the States. At the time I thought I would be the exception to the rule, and that life abroad would never be difficult for me to adjust to. However, that wasn’t the case.
My first few days in Rome I did what every other tourist did. I saw the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, etc. But after the first week, I realized I’m not a tourist. I actually live here. After this realization, I started looking at things in a different way. Instead of admiring the big buildings and historical sights, I was now absorbing the culture and watching the Italian people.
Life in Italy is absolutely wonderful, but people here live a very different life than we do in America. Italians have a completely different perspective on life than we do in America. This easy-going Italian attitude might be one for Americans to look into.
I interviewed Carla Caserta, the on-site facilitator for my current program in Rome and asked her to answer my questions about the differences between American culture and Italian culture. She has Italian roots, but is American by birth and grew up in America. However, in September 2008, Carla made the decision to move to Italy permanently. As an American citizen, but a current Roman resident, I felt that she was an expert on both Italian and American culture.
The first major difference I noticed almost immediately upon arriving in Italy was the Italian people’s casual attitudes about everything. In Rome, everyone seems to walk slow, talk slow and live life on their own time. One way to see their relaxed attitude is by looking at any Italian parking lot. Cars are double-parked, triple-parked and parked in places that aren’t parking spots. However, no one seems to care!
This amazed me when I first arrived. As I’ve said a lot since arriving in Italy, “In America, that would not be okay.” Carla said that was the first major difference she noticed when she arrived to live here from America as well. She said that Americans are much more organized, efficient and put much more emphasis on things like customer service than Italians do.
This relaxed attitude that I had noticed on the streets applies to every aspect of Italian life. One place this is especially apparent is in Italian’s work. According to Carla, Americans live to work and Italians work to live. They work for the basic reason of supporting themselves and their family, and nothing else. Customer service also isn’t a priority here like it is in America; Italians typically wouldn’t keep their shop open late or go the extra mile for their customers. For example, at a restaurant in America, waiters and waitresses practically hound you to make sure you’re taken care of. This isn’t the case here; the waitstaff basically ignores you throughout your meal.
Italians also have high respect for their free time. According to Carla, Italians treat their weekends religiously. They make a point to go out or do something during their free time, and their free time can’t be interrupted. Americans seem to have forgotten about the importance of free time. This Italian attitude of respect for their time extends to mealtime. Italians take their food seriously and are very tied to their food and the culture it represents. Americans are all about fast food and getting in and out of meals as quickly as possible; Italians are not. Dinner time is the time Italians gather and relax and dinners in Italy can last up to a few hours. Dinner is yet another time Italians can take out of their day to relax.
Carla said her favorite part of Italian culture is the little things that make her fall in love with the culture and I agree. Italians take time for themselves and they seem to genuinely enjoy their lives. She said she believes Italians appreciate things more than Americans. In America we let things fly by because we are so consumed by other things. Italians believe their time is sacred.
This relaxed attitude towards life is the main difference I have seen when comparing American culture to Italian culture. Although it can be frustrating at times as an American to have the wait staff ignore you during your meal or to walk behind a group of slow moving Italians, I believe we Americans can learn from the Italians. We need to remember to slow down, take time for ourselves and enjoy our lives. It is, after all, la vita bella. Ciao!