Dear Readers, we love your passion for the Italian language and way of life, we applaud your efforts to come to grips with it all, we admire the amount of time, money and effort that you put into organising your holiday trips to our strange and beautiful land.

But please know that we are sooooo relieved when September arrives and brings us two wonderful gifts: the fresh days of azure skies and high fluffy white clouds, and the return to tranquillity that the end of the holiday season brings.

It’s the price one pays for living in such a beautiful environment, for several months of the year we become the world’s largest open air museum cum theme park. As I’m sure you all know my friends, not all holiday makers have the levels of respect for and understand of Italy that you have. I often think that if everyone made the efforts that you do to understand another culture and its language the world would be a much better place, don’t you agree?

Okay, sycophantic flattery aside, what about all those ‘others’ … you know who I’m talking about: the uncultured troglodytes that clomp, clutter and selfie their way from famous landmark to famous landmark viewing everything second hand through their cellphone, iphone, ipad etc. ……….. because, “we don’t want to miss that special moment, do we? … that’s it love, a bit to the left … now stretch out with your hand as if you’re holding up the leaning tower … click, another original masterpiece to show the folks back home!”

But are the Italians any better? Not according to this article

The following excerpts highlight are some of the main ‘trademarks’ of the Italian tourist. I’ve helped you out with a translations into English … not to say that you, my dear polyglot friends, wouldn’t be able to read the article in its entirety without my help!

The Italians are the first to recognise their foibles, and this article is a fascinating insight into the stereotypical Italian personality.

Italiani in vacanza: che vergogna!
Quanto ci vergogniamo dei nostri connazionali all’estero? Mentre tutti vogliono venire nel nostro paese e respirare la nostra cultura, gli italiani vanno all’estero e non ci fanno fare bella figura. Ecco le tipologie peggiori di italiano in vacanza.

Italians on holiday: how embarrassing!
How ashamed are we of our fellow countrymen abroad? Whilst everyone wants to come to our country and breathe in our culture, the Italians go abroad and make us look bad. Here are the worst types of Italian on holiday.

Il Festaiolo Irrispettoso
Uno degli aspetti più simpatici della nostra personalità è che siamo goliardici, allegri, sempre disposti a ridere e scherzare con tutti. Non c’è niente di male, anzi è uno dei nostri lati migliori. Ma, come si suol dire, il troppo stroppia. L’italiano all’estero ingigantisce questo pregio fino a renderlo un insopportabile difetto. Perché è in vacanza, e quindi deve divertirsi di più di quanto faccia normalmente a casa. Continuando però a comportarsi come fosse a casa.

The Disrespectful Party maker
One of the most endearing characteristics of our character is that we are merrymakers, happy, always ready to laugh and joke with everyone. There’s nothing wrong with that, in fact, it’s one of our better traits. But as they say, you can have too much of a good thing. The Italian abroad magnifies this  quality to the extent that it becomes an unsupportable defect. Because he’s on holiday, and he must enjoy himself more than he normally does at home. Continuing to act, however, as if he were at home.

Il Reclamatore Opportunista
Non siamo gli unici con la tendenza a lamentarsi: ma come lo facciamo noi probabilmente non lo fa nessuno. Soprattutto perché alcuni hanno una strategia precisa, per quanto inconscia: prima individuano l’oggetto delle lamentele, e immediatamente dopo la persona alla quale rivolgerle. E durante tutto il processo, si attaccheranno tenacemente a questi due fattori fino a che non raggiungeranno il loro obiettivo. Perché c’è sempre un obbiettivo. Spesso si tratta di ottenere riduzioni, privilegi o regali che non gli toccherebbero. Alle volte è solo un bisogno di attenzioni. Ma quasi sempre la lamentela è priva di un reale fondamento.

The Opportunistic Complainer
We’re not the only ones who tend to complain: but probably no one else does it like we do. Above all because some people have a precise strategy, however unconscious: firstly they identify the object of their grievances, and immediately after that the person that they need to address. And throughout the process they tenaciously attach themselves to these two factors until they they achieve their objective. Because there’s always an objective. Often it comes down to getting reductions, privileges or gifts that they wouldn’t normally be entitled to. Sometimes it’s just attention seeking. But almost always the complaint has no real basis.

Coming soon … Italians Abroad – Part 2