Tere’s a plethora of articles out there on what not to do to avoid self-proclamation of “I’m a tourist!” when visiting Italy. Much of it is worthy advice…unless you prefer sticking out. However, many of these eye-openers for the stranieri (foreigners) go beyond ways to circumvent disagreeable tourist behavior and are, in fact, related to everyday life in Italy.

While many long-standing customs seem strange (at least at first) to visitors, anyone with an open mind and an open heart quickly grows fond of these seemingly quirky ways of la vita Italiana (the Italian life). Well, possibly apart from the nonsensical bureaucracy, but that seems to be a problem shared around the world!