Italy - unfriendly?

Robmac

Robmac

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My daughter has just got back from Italy, so at last we can return her snappy little mutt, much to the relief of Ruby our Boxer!

They said they had a great time and Italy is a stunning country, however, they found that Italians just don't like the English. Everywhere they went they were greeted with rudeness and general unfriendliness. I asked a couple of friends who were there recently and they said exactly the same, yet the Scottish couple they toured with were treated completely differently.

Is this something others have experienced, or are they just misinterpreting the Italian way of life?
 
We drove across Italy from France to Ancona (the Po Valley) and found the Italians we met and spoke to very friendly. No indifference and certainly no rudeness. Apart from a few hoots from drivers behind us when they thought we should overtake on bends :giggle:
 
We've been all over Europe for the past 6 months. Most countries for the first time. We really enjoyed Italy. Other than the language barrier, we didn't feel anyone had any issues with us.
 
Robmac said:
Is this something others have experienced, or are they just misinterpreting the Italian way of life?
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Italy is one of our favourite destinations, it has great scenery and we've always found the Italians to be warm and friendly.

Pete
 
Guigsy said:
We've been all over Europe for the past 6 months. Most countries for the first time. We really enjoyed Italy. Other than the language barrier, we didn't feel anyone had any issues with us.
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On their tour, they stayed in France, Germany and Switzerland where they were treated in a really friendly manner. It was only in Italy they had problems.

I just had a chat with my son in law who said that several English who they met over there were having similar problems. Maybe something has changed?

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We toured all over Italy last year, never had anything but friendliness. Even had a traffic cop take us to our destination when we sort of got lost!
 
Perhaps they thought your daughter was a snappy little mutt....

Different perceptions and attitudes to and from other people are possibly taken in different ways....
 
Guigsy said:
With my tiny bit of Italian (I can just about ask for a cappuccino), I often got a response in German.
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Yes, same here.

My wife thinks that our language sounds harsh to them like German.

And my wife is always right. :rolleyes:

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Italy last year and found everyone particularly friendly, however, Italy is a big country and your family may have found a small enclave of people adverse to us Brits, where were they out of interest?
 
Lada said:
Italy last year and found everyone particularly friendly, however, Italy is a big country and your family may have found a small enclave of people adverse to us Brits, where were they out of interest?
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They were in Bologna, Lake Garda, Naples and Venice.

At the site near Venice, they were the only English people there, most were Italians. This is where they had their worst experience. They did however approach one old lady and gave her some of their supplies as they had brought too much with them, she late came over with a large bottle of ice cold Coca Cola for their kids but that was virtually the only friendly encounter they had over there.
 
Just smiffy said:
Perhaps they thought your daughter was a snappy little mutt....

Different perceptions and attitudes to and from other people are possibly taken in different ways....
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Possibly. But I've never heard any comments about my daughter apart from what a nice person she is, same with her 2 kids.
 
Robmac said:
Possibly. But I've never heard any comments about my daughter apart from what a nice person she is, same with her 2 kids.
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And she loves her dog and you don't, we’re all different on how we see things and we all take comments in different ways in which I’m glad you took my comment earlier as it could be taken in many different ways...??

I don’t like many Germans and unfortunately many of them are close relatives... ?
 
We found totally the opposite this year ski-ing Italy was a very friendly country/people totally different to when we visited cornwall people seem to be too busy to pass the time of day or even say good morning as you pass.

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From a personal view, I like Italians but have never been to Italy.

I did however grow up with a lot of Italians (and Polish) as a result of going to a Catholic school, and many have been lifelong friends.

I'm not judging either way, simply relaying my daughter's experience, but she would certainly not make such a thing up and would have nothing to gain by doing so. It seems that the majority so far on this thread seem to disagree and find the Italians friendly so I accept that and perhaps my daughter and her family just had a bad run over there.

They did say they would return to Italy, but would keep themselves to themselves.
 
The Wino said:
We found totally the opposite this year ski-ing Italy was a very friendly country/people totally different to when we visited cornwall people seem to be too busy to pass the time of day or even say good morning as you pass.
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You’re right there... 22 years I’ve been down here in Cornwall ??

One of the many reasons I moved here...??
 
Just smiffy said:
Perhaps they thought your daughter was a snappy little mutt....

Different perceptions and attitudes to and from other people are possibly taken in different ways....
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Not sure I understand this comment, seems incredibly rude on first reading(?)
 
Robmac said:
From a personal view, I like Italians but have never been to Italy.

I did however grow up with a lot of Italians (and Polish) as a result of going to a Catholic school, and many have been lifelong friends.

I'm not judging either way, simply relaying my daughter's experience, but she would certainly not make such a thing up and would have nothing to gain by doing so. It seems that the majority so far on this thread seem to disagree and find the Italians friendly so I accept that and perhaps my daughter and her family just had a bad run over there.

They did say they would return to Italy, but would keep themselves to themselves.
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I meant it when I said they probably mistook her family for German.

I used to drink in this bar near Garda and the owner was a bit off with me for the first few visits. My wife then spoke to his wife who spoke some English and told her where we were from and he came over the next night with free beer and said something like “ Sorry thought German”.
 
Chris said:
I meant it when I said they probably mistook her family for German.

I used to drink in this bar near Garda and the owner was a bit off with me for the first few visits. My wife then spoke to his wife who spoke some English and told her where we were from and he came over the next night with free beer and said something like “ Sorry thought German”.
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There’s not many that like the Germans .... they even don’t like each other...?
 
Just smiffy said:
Exactly....! And I’ve only quoted the original post... he said it not me....?

Thanks for falling into my trap...??
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OK that's fine then, apparently it was a trap(?) He obviously devised some pleasure from it so very pleased for him
 
Just smiffy said:
Perhaps they thought your daughter was a snappy little mutt....

Different perceptions and attitudes to and from other people are possibly taken in different ways....
Click to expand...
From the book 'how to make friends and influence people'.:wasntme:
 
Just smiffy said:
There’s not many that like the Germans .... they even don’t like each other...?
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That's not unique to Germany, but yes I can say from my travels the Germans are one of the least liked nations.

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When I first starting going to European countries I quite often thought they were being rude to me. But it was simply cultural differences...
My ex who is french sounded incredibly angry on the phone when talking to her mother, but turns out it was just how they speak. Once I learned a bit of French and spent quite a bit of time there I realised they were not angry, rude or disliked me, it was just the way they talked.

On the other hand, it could be the German/Italy thing. That has apparently kicked of big time and getting worse than ever. I think it is misplaced myself and they should be Angry with Brussels/EU not specifically Germany.
 
Just smiffy said:
There’s not many that like the Germans .... they even don’t like each other...?
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I have always heard stories about the Germans being arrogant and complaining, and was brought up to not hate them but not trust them. This was a result of family being lost in the war and bad feelings lasted many years.

However, my son works in Germany quite a lot and he says that they are the friendliest people you will ever meet once you get to know them. A friend who served in Germany in the 1980's said similar.

I do hate the Australians though, but only during the Ashes.
 
It’s the Dutch I am not very keen on.

And the French of course.
 
Robmac said:
I have always heard stories about the Germans being arrogant and complaining, and was brought up to not hate them but not trust them. This was a result of family being lost in the war and bad feelings lasted many years.

However, my son works in Germany quite a lot and he says that they are the friendliest people you will ever meet once you get to know them. A friend who served in Germany in the 1980's said similar.

I do hate the Australians though, but only during the Ashes.
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I worked in Germany briefly and have some German friends. My Great gran hated them due to losing family members to them twice. So I was a bit nervous first time over there. But fell in love with the country and the people very quickly.
 

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