Italian by Marriage
I married into an Italian family. If you have yet to experience the hospitality of my in-laws or any Italian family, well, you are missing out. That said, I received an email from my father-in-law that is a good breakdown of the difference between your friends and your Italian friends.
Here are some choice comparisons:
FRIENDS: Never ask for food
ITALIAN FRIENDS: Are the reason you have food
FRIENDS: Bail you out of jail and tell you what you did was wrong
ITALIAN FRIENDS: Would be sitting next to you
FRIENDS: Know a few things about you
ITALIAN FRIENDS: Could write a book with direct quotes from you
FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that’s what the crowd is doing
ITALIAN FRIENDS: Will kick the heck of whole crowd that left you
FRIENDS: Will take your drink away when you’ve had enough
ITALIAN FRIENDS: Will look at you stumbling all over the place and say,
“you better drink the rest of that, you know we don’t waste!!” then
they’ll drive your butt home.
i haven’t been to italy nor do i know the language but i’ve read as the romans do by alan epstein and i totally understand what you mean. if you haven’t heard of it, it’s an american writer who’s written about his falling in love with italy and migrating there. it’s a wonderful non-fiction which has converted a non-italian fan to one!