In Italy and America people live in apartments.
The apartments are organized in condominiums. If you’re British you probably won’t know what they are, but in Italy, there’s a whole area of law just for resolving condominium problems.
American political parties hold primaries. The Italian PD (Partito Democratico) chooses it’s leader the same way.
Italians drive everywhere. As do Americans, apparently.
Americans and Italians eat zucchini, but Brits prefer courgettes.
Basketball is big in Italy, and in the States, not in the UK.
Each country has a senate. And a president. Except Britain, which has a House of Lords and a Queen.
Italians and Americans say ‘Mamma’. Brits say ‘Mummy’.
‘Sellotape’ is called ‘scotch tape’ in Italy, and in the USA.
Both countries use ‘cents’ not ‘pence’ and take ‘vacations’ not holidays.
And have zip/postal codes made up of five numbers, instead of the much more intuitive combinations of letters and numbers that are used in Britain (inventor of the postal service…)
Americans and Italians prefer coffee to tea.
Oh, and there’s no mafia in England.
Over to you..
Got any more similarities (or differences) to point out? Leave a comment on this article
Lucia says
Thanks Daniel, we sometimes mix up English speaking countries thinking that they’re all the same. I lived in England and Ireland for 2 and a half years and never felt I was home once. These places are a great mix of tradition and innovation and they’re always (at least) months ahead. Even the shoes I see in England in november only land in Italy the folowing April.
When I arrived in Londond I had my first contact with what is called a business-oriented society (remember: I was coming from Naples!) and I was scared in the beginning. I didn’t want to become like all those lemmings in black suits who were getting off everyday at 7 at London Bridge train station…. But then I started to appreciate it….
Daniel says
So, you prefer Britain, Lucia? Flats not apartments? The Queen, not The President?
Lucia says
I prefer Britain and its flats, but I wish I could date the President! 😀
Pamela says
I was born in the US but have lived in the UK for many years and now live in Italy. I agree with you, Daniel – Italy reminds me of the US in a lot of ways – especially the social dimension. The casual friendliness of people, the emotional demonstrativeness, the expressive use of hand gestures… Another more subtle thing is how people converse. It seems to me that in both the US and Italy people tend to use more words – longer sentences and well, just more of everything – explanations, opinions, examples, saying the same thing in different ways. Therefore just starting to speak while they are speaking is the way to go. This looks and feels like interruption to UK people and gives rise to statements like “they all look like they are arguing!” as people tend to loudly talk over each other in conversation, but it reminds me very much of New York! I like it.
Daniel says
Ciao Pam,
I think you’re right, the whole “Italian-American” thing has had a big influence on American culture, and sense of identity. Of course, that’s normal given the waves of emigration.
Whereas Britain and Italy, both in Europe and relatively near, don’t seem to have much of a shared tradition, or at least not until the twentieth century.
I remember when I was a kid, in the ‘seventies, Italian products like spaghetti were still seen as being very foreign.
And I didn’t have my first pizza until 1983!
My, how the world has changed, huh?
Andy Miller says
Hi Daniel
Your posts are always thought-provoking (and I do realise when you are being tongue-in-cheek).
I live in a condominium in London. We have lots of them, but for some reason we don’t have a word for them – which is odd. Saying ‘I live in a ‘condominium’ would be much simpler than having to explain that I own a share in the company that owns the building where I live.
Primaries are probably the only thing that the PD has in common with any US political party, and the job title is about only thing the US and Italian presidents have in common. (More seriously it’s interesting to compare the very different ways that the US and Italy have responded to their respective government budget deficits).
And when it comes to sport I’ll see your Italian baseball and raise you Italian cricket and if you say ‘well what about basketball?’ I’d say ‘well what about Italian rugby’?
The number one sport in Italy is of course calcio, where the British influence runs deep (which is why AC Milan is called AC Milan not AC Milano and Genoa club isn’t called Genova). Even today the bosses of Italian football clubs are called ‘i mister’.
And then there’s cycling – where the Italians get to laugh at the inability of the Brits to deal with a bit of rain…
I think the reality is that the differences between Italy and both the UK and US are probably greater than the similarities to either. Italy is Italy, and it’s the things that make it particolare that are the most interesting.
But I am fascinated and intrigued by the influences and cultural exchanges between Britain and Italy whether it’s Punch and Judy (a direct descendant of neapolitan theatre) or Garibaldi biscuits (you may remember them from your childhood). Or why there’s an Ascensore Acton in Napoli. The links and affinities between Italy and Britain go back a long way, but very often they aren’t obvious and you have to look for them.
(Ciao Lucia: Barack’s already in enough trouble with Michelle – just look at her face in the pictures of Barack taking a ‘selfie’ with the Danish PM).
Daniel says
I think Lucia was thinking about Berlusconi when she mentioned kissing the “president”. It’s a realistic aspiration for anyone as young and pretty as her.
The reason you Brits don’t have condominiums Andy is because of the “leasehold” system I think. Flats are, or used to be, sold on long leases. The owner of the whole building retains the freehold (so “ownership”), and therefore the responsibility for maintenance, investments, etc.
In Italy, condominiums are a sort of democracy… with people constantly suing each other!
Oh, and Italian cultural influences in Britain? What about fish and chips? I read that the fried fish component originated with Italian refugees at the time of the Risorgimento. Like migrants today, they ended up in the fast food business, and introduced us to “frutti di mare”.
Andy Miller says
Hi Daniel
Lots of things have changed since you went to Italy including legislation that gave leaseholders the right to buy – and many (most?) have exercised the right. I run the management company for the block where I live – the company owns the freehold and we each have a share and an equal vote. Fortunately no one has sued me yet. But we haven’t reached the point here where people write books on how to survive the condominio – and a comedian couldn’t construct a routine for a primetime TV show like Zelig about the dispute in the condominium over which shade of ochre to paint the block.
There’s a little place in Roma that serves baccalà frita on brown paper – which if you close your eyes would remind you of fish and chips. Except no chips. Riding through the Garfagnana in northern Toscana this summer I was intrigued to see signs for a sagra di pesce e patate fritte – it turned out that the reason was that lots of people from the local town (Braga) had emigrated to Scotland in the 1950s to work in the steel mills and they had brought back with them fish and chips (I don’t know about Irn Bru).
Daniel says
You’re making me hungry, Andy!