Dolce far niente is the Italian expression for the sweetness of doing nothing, sweet idleness, something very much part of Italian lifestyle and attitude. While Americans and northern Europeans are often known to live for work, working constantly without taking time to smell the roses along the way, the Italians believe in doing the opposite.

Instead of living to work, or even stopping to smell the roses along the way, they consciously work to live, and smelling the roses is part of every day. This sweet idleness is something visitors to foreign lands find difficult to embrace. After all, there are sights to see, history to be learned, art to be understood, and time is usually pressing. But when in Rome, shouldn’t you try and do as the Romans do?