"Italy Page" Italy by vysnaite

It's a difficult task to describe this marvellous country in a couple of paragraphs. Italy consists of very diverse regions. some Italians say Italy begins with Rimini or Florence, intending that south is not Italy, and from the inside look of Italians a strong dichotomy between "South and North" still exits, while those abstract concepts "South vs. North" (whatever it would be) are still alive in minds of many people, it's more like a relict and stereotype of the past alive in present ideas, a paradigm to which many Italians still hold on talking about the culture. In fact, as a country Italy was united in 1860, of course there are some differences between geographically southern and Northern regions, as well as there are basic similarities that unifies the construct that we call "Italian culture" however, there are general cultural differences among every region, and it's very natural knowing that every region has its history, dialect, life style, cuisine and etc. And that's exactly what makes Italy diverse, interesting and lovely place to explore.

Lago D'Orta

Culture apart, Italy is great for the changing Nature scenes. It's enrich with various breathtaking sceneries, lakes, mountains, seas and climate ..changes. Usually Italy is labelled as a sunny country (by mass-media, tourism, travelling advertisements, movies and etc.). Well, while it's really more sunny than Northern Europe, it still has some rain (what about Venice in autumn, Bologna with its portici that are jokingly said to be built to escape the rain, snow (go up the hills or mountains in winter or late autumns), foggy autumns (check autumn in Emilia- Romagna, Bologna, Ravenna), and days with clouds. It depends on the region, season and where you travel in Italy.

Sirmione

I think that the first thing that one should do before travelling to Italy - to take off the head all the existing stereotypes from the head, all the pursued paradigms from mass-media, movies, "popular culture" and so on. If you have never been in Italy by now, try to write down what you think about this country, its people and what associations you have (meals, characters, Italian men, Italian women, family, regions, Sicily etc.....) then look at the list written and think "I have never been in Italy...so from where all these images come from?" for example "Sicily = mafia...why??" maybe it's because of Sopranos and Law and the Order or whatever other "sources". then I'd suggest you to "de-stereotypisize" the images you have and search for some real information e.g. to search what Sicily really has to offer for a traveller/tourist and what's the real situation with that pseudo "mafia". Long story short- before going to any country try to banish all the stereotypes and to experience real life, real people, real situation, enjoy, observe, respect, talk and make your own opinion. That's a key for enjoying the trip. To my mind.

Long story short, I'll try to put in some nice places here that I've seen in Italy during last 4 years (I've spent in Italy about a year +), I hope you'll find something helpful. Oh, and the last thing, I'm not keen on "Italian culture", taking away the idealized image of "romantic Italy" as every single country it has bureaucracy, disadvantages, good people, "bad" people, helpful people, idiots and so on. But still, there's something about this country that makes people come back, a particular atmosphere, nature..whatever it'd be... it's worth a voyage =) Enjoy!