Please help if you live in Italy.....?

Question

First of all:
1.)I am an Aussie girl in my 20's, is it safe to travel alone?
2.)I have heard that the people are very friendly...will it be easy to meet new people?

3.)Most Italians speak english as well as Italian dont they???
4.)What is the night life like?
5.)What is the MUST see spots
and.....I think Im going to feel inadequate as far as fashion!!!help!
6.)Whats it like to live there? do you love or hate it ...whats your fav part?

Answer 1

1) yes. i'm an american girl in my 20s, and i've travelled all over italy alone. i have never had any problems being alone. just stay aware of your surroundings, don't go off with strange seeming people, don't do anything that feels uncomfortable. italian men are gentlemen-they'll stop if you say no. other immigrants, however, are not always so nice. "Aiuto" (eye-yoo-toe) is how you say "help" in italian. you probably won't need it, but if anything happens, scream it at the top of your lungs. someone wil help you.

2)it is very easy to meet new people, especially men. italian women take a bit longer to warm up, and they're not very friendly to tourist women. other tourists are always quite friendly. try going the hostel route and you're bound to meet fun people. people in italy are generally pleasant and helpful to tourists (except for the shopgirls-they do NOT like to do anything extra for anyone).

3)no, they do not. most italians in the larger cities speak some english, but few are fluent. pick up the lonely planet italian phrasebook and start learning! you should also pick up a small book of italian verbs. there are only 3 endings: -are, -ire, and -ere. with a few exceptions, they all generally conjugate the same way.

4)in the major cities (rome, florence, milan, torino, naples) it is great. there are tons of enotecas (wine bars), discos, and pubs open very late, and even after-hours clubs. in the smaller towns, there is NO night life.

5)well, obviously rome-st. peter's, the vatican museum, the coliseum, the pantheon, the spanish steps, and trevi fountain. florence-uffizi and accademia museums, the ponte vecchio, the duomo. pompeii, outside of naples, and the amalfi coast, if possible. if you go to turin-which is a seriously underrated city-there's the palazzo reale, superga, and the mole (mo-lay).
you should also stop in a few of the smaller towns, if you've got the time, to see how regular italians live. my favorite town near rome is orvieto. it's beautiful. look it up on www.viamichelin.it.

6)living here is very difficult, but worth it. it is frustrating at first-i didn't speak much italian when i moved here. i still get knots in my stomach when i have to argue with the people at the post office-i think they speak faster and in dialect because they know my italian isn't quite that good. my italian is better now (i've been here for a year), but i still study and improve, and slowly life is becoming easier.

it's also difficult to get used to the different culture. shops are closed on sundays and in the middle of the day, which is incredibly inconvenient for a person who is used to going to wal-mart at 3 a.m. in her pajamas. speaking of which, you get VERY weird looks if you are not always dressed up. i still go out in jeans and a t-shirt, with no make-up and my hair in a ponytail-i have learned to ignore the looks. it's better than spending 2 hours getting ready to buy a quart of milk. i mean, really. who cares what anyone else thinks of you? if they think you are a strange foreigner, then so what-that's what you are!

there is a totally different concept of customer service here, too. in the States, the customer is always right. here, that is rarely so. the sales people will help you at their convenience, not yours. if it is lunch time, they will push you out of the door. they will not sell you gas, clothing, shoes, anything. they will not take your money-food is more important than making a sale. also, if it is closing time, you are out of luck. come back in the morning.

you get used to this stuff, though. you adjust. if you want to survive, that is. it's not really rudeness-just a different mentality. and, as you are in their country (not the other way around), it's up to you to adapt and accept. which i have done. and i'm very happy here.

my favorite part of living here is the history, art, and architecture. we just don't have anything like it in the States.

Answer 2

1) Yes, but you have to be smart. Don't wear flashy jewelry or expenisve watches when you know you will be in crowded or touristy type areas. Keep your money and ID very close to you. Learn the language and the hand signals... Italians use a alot of hand signals to communicate.

2) Italians are extremely friendly, you meet one and soon you know their whole family.

3) No, I would not say most Italians speak English. If you are in a touristy type area there are of course people who speak English... But I strongly suggest picking up an Italian dictionary. If you are able, take a class.

4) Nightlife, depends. I'm not much of a clubber, but I see them around. The streets are always busy with cars and pedestrians after 8pm.

5) I live in Naples and for the most part it is very dirty. There are nice historical places to see here though. Rome of course you have to go to Rome. Florence is a must too... go to http://www.verrazzano.com for info on a great wine tour. Venice is must also. Nove is the place to buy Lenox and Tiffany dishes at bargain prices. Bari has the Trulli houses that you can stay a few nights in , very cool. Paestum has the largest and best preserved Greek temples. Pompeii/Ercolanium, etc, etc, etc....

Fashion, well you will just have to get here and see what you think. I will say that you will not blend in with jsut a t-shirt and jeans. The women get dressed to the nine just to take the garbage out.

6) Well, like I said, I live in Naples. It is dirty here. But, the food is great and its not a far drive to other parts of Italy that are not dirty at all. Naples or Napoli is just a world all its own... best pizza you will find anywhere in Italy though ;)

Answer 3

1) Yes, but be careful of Gypsies in the big cities. They will try to rob you, grab your a$s, etc...
2) Absolutely they are very friendly
3) In the smaller cities, not really.. But you can almost always find someone who speaks english (but don't depend on others too much, take a phrasebook and learn some of it)
4) In some cities it's the "passegiatta", they kind of walk around, get a gelato and chat with friends. I learned that the hard way after looking for clubs for a month and wondering where everyone was going. Turns out they weren't going anywhere!! (This was Siena)
5) All the typical stuff, Coloseum, Vatican City, Florence (Firenze), Venice, etc... get a good guide book (skip Pisa, all there is in the entire town is that damn tower.) If you are doing the whole country, Check out down near Vesuvius.
6) I loved it for the month I was there, but that was a short time.

Answer 4

I don't live in Italy but I visited there (alone) while I was going to school in Greece.

1) It's safe to go alone but don't be stupid. Stay in touristy or well populated areas at night, be cautious of your surroundings, and basically don't do anything you wouldn't do to keep your self safe if you were going out and about in the city where you live, and always and guard your purse (gypsies!).

2) People are very friendly, especially the men... I was off the train for five minutes and got like 10 numbers, they go to girls like flies to pooh. All the ones that approached me were harmless, but never let your guard down. If you're going to live there, you'll meet peeps easily.

3) English is everywhere, although it can be broken and hard to communicate, a Berlitz book will help

4) Night life is cool, take a cab though, the buses and subways are way to crowded.

5) Rome- everything, Florence- the Academia and other (?) musems there, if you're in Pisa the tower is cool. There's Venice, which is actually quite beautiful, but it seemed to me like I was at Disneyland... you don't feel like you're in a real place.

Answer 5

1) It 's safe to travel, cach buses, train, taxi, but be careful at night in the big cities.
2.)Italian are very friendly, especiuallyin the center or south Italy
3.)Very few Italian speak english...but you can understabd them just by how they describe thing with their hands!!!
4.)Depend of the town, in the big towns like folernce, rome, naples, bologna, Milan you have a lot of things to do...in the other one depend...
5.)Milan: le palle del toro and the Duomo, Florence: Piazzale michelangelo, Santo spirito, Piazza della Signoria and i DUomo, Bologna : La torre degli Asinelli, Rome: Everithing...is a big museum!!!!
!
6.)Live in Italy is fantasctic, my favorite towans are Florence (I lived there 6 years), Rome (6 years) and Bologna (1 year)

Answer 6

1) Italy is safe! Rome is the safest Capital City in Europe with 0,4 homicides per 100,000 inhabitant
http://it.wikinews.org/wiki/Criminalit%C3%A0_in_calo_in_Europa_e_l%E2%80%99Italia_%C3%A8_la_pi%C3%B9_sicura
2) Yes, Italian people are very friendly
3) It depends, usually italian people speak english, but there are a lot of them that speak french
4) I am from Rome, and here nightlife is GREAT, as you can see...
http://gallery.giovani.it/img/mms/foto/2006/11/29/img_456ccd1ce238a_verybig.jpg
http://gallery.giovani.it/img/mms/foto/2006/12/05/img_45752870c3726_verybig.jpg
5) Rome, Venice, Florence
6) I love it

Answer 7

Italian, but from Florence.