Speaker 1: As soon as you step off the plane in Rome
Speaker 1: or Milan, there's a rush of excitement. You're finally here,
Speaker 1: and Italy announces itself in a way that it only
Speaker 1: knows how. The hiss of the espresso machine and ancient ruins,
Speaker 1: surrounded by cafes, chaotic traffic and never before seen driving maneuvers,
Speaker 1: people talking with their hands as much as their voices.
Speaker 1: Ben Venucci, Welcome to Italy. You've arrived. Now how do
Speaker 1: you go about really feeling part of it? In this episode,
Speaker 1: I'm joined by my Roman friend Deizine to explore how
Speaker 1: to get into the Italian vibe when you.
Speaker 2: Arrive Tawatuti and Benvenuti Tuan Told Italy the travel podcast
Speaker 2: to where you go to the townsend villages, mountains and lakes,
Speaker 2: hills and coastlines of Ballet Italia. It's week your host
Speaker 2: Katie Clark takes you on a journey in a search
Speaker 2: of magical landscapes, history, culture, wine, gelato, and of course
Speaker 2: a whole lot of pasta. If you're dreaming of Italy
Speaker 2: and planning future adventures there, you've come to the right place.
Speaker 1: Ben Binucci, Welcome to Untold Italy, where we help travelers
Speaker 1: move beyond the checklist so they really feel part of Italy.
Speaker 3: This is the Untold Italy Way.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Katie Clark, and on today's episode, we're
Speaker 1: going to learn how to feel really part of Italy
Speaker 1: from the moment that you arrive. Assimilate if you will.
Speaker 1: After all, travel is all about embracing new experiences and
Speaker 1: soaking up what makes each place unique and special. And
Speaker 1: you know what, I might be a little bit biased,
Speaker 1: but there really is no better place to do this
Speaker 1: than in Italy, thanks to its easy, relaxed vibe, encouraging people,
Speaker 1: and of course, the most delicious food the planet. Somehow
Speaker 1: we all become a little Italian when presented with a
Speaker 1: plate of mouth watering handmade pasta or a chunk of
Speaker 1: life changing buffalo mozzarella cheese, it is very difficult to
Speaker 1: suppress your appreciation of this deliciousness. Joining me today is
Speaker 1: my Roman Vestie Nazim, the founder and tour host at
Speaker 1: Full Belly Tours, a food tour company that takes you
Speaker 1: right to the heart of Rome's food district to start
Speaker 1: you when Naziine grew up. Nazim and I met back
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen on a food tour, of course, and
Speaker 1: we've been friends ever since. So andiamo, let's get started
Speaker 1: and learn how to specifically express appreciation across a busy
Speaker 1: Roman road, greet people the Italian way, and in the
Speaker 1: process really feel part of Italy. Ben Tonato, Nazim, welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Untold Italy podcast.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much. It's always a pleasure.
Speaker 1: Always, always, Now Nizim is a bit of a regular
Speaker 1: here on the Untold his Lily pog cars, but perhaps
Speaker 1: this time you can reintroduce yourself for our new listeners.
Speaker 4: So my name is the same.
Speaker 5: I run a food to a company in Rome called
Speaker 5: full Baly Touris. I grew up here even though I'm
Speaker 5: not Italian French mother, Tunisian father born in the US,
Speaker 5: raised here, and I worked in restaurants most of my life.
Speaker 5: So food is absolute passion and feel proudly Roman. So
Speaker 5: I like to share all of the wonderful like food
Speaker 5: that this city has and to show people that you
Speaker 5: actually can eat well in Rome because it's very easy
Speaker 5: not to unfortunately.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and it's very easy to eat well when
Speaker 1: you go with Nazim. Trust me, people, he's the master
Speaker 1: and you know you may not have been born there,
Speaker 1: and you may not have Italian parents, but I can
Speaker 1: assure you Nazim is very Roman and when you walk
Speaker 1: around his neighborhood with him, you will see that he
Speaker 1: is much loved there by all the locals. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it's your home.
Speaker 5: It absolutely It's the only place in the world where
Speaker 5: I have a sense of belonging.
Speaker 4: It's like my home.
Speaker 5: And it's also the only place where people will say, yeah,
Speaker 5: here's one of us. Yeah, because for everyone else there
Speaker 5: is something that doesn't quite fit.
Speaker 4: Whereas like here in Rome.
Speaker 5: You know when I speak at how and I have
Speaker 5: a thick Roman accent, and I'm very, very proud of
Speaker 5: the city and distachers the neighborhood I grew up in
Speaker 5: and run my tours in, and so yeah, it's like
Speaker 5: a tiny little village. There's about eight thousand people that
Speaker 5: live here out of the three million in Rome. Yeah,
Speaker 5: if you come on tour with me, it's basically like
Speaker 5: being like, you know, one of the villagers is my
Speaker 5: wife and.
Speaker 1: I column Okay, folks, now, we have a fun episode
Speaker 1: plan for everyone today, and it's all about getting into
Speaker 1: the vibe of Italy when you arrived. So I don't
Speaker 1: know about you, but whenever I travel to another country,
Speaker 1: and especially Italy, I like to do a bit of
Speaker 1: pre planning and research so that I get into the
Speaker 1: spirit of the country, understand the cultural norms, and I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm really part of it because you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know about Unizine, but being part of another
Speaker 1: culture is the best reason to travel, because you know,
Speaker 1: like it's one thing to see sites like the Colosseum,
Speaker 1: but it's a whole other experience to figure out how
Speaker 1: not to get run over in Roman traffic.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, So we'll get to.
Speaker 6: Some tips on that in a minute.
Speaker 1: But first, Nazine, do you like to get in the
Speaker 1: spirit of destinations that you go to. I know you're
Speaker 1: off to Copenhagen in Denmark soon. Are you prepping up
Speaker 1: by getting ready to jump on a bike and order
Speaker 1: some delicious motor bond?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 5: No, most definitely, And I agree like whenever my wife
Speaker 5: and I travel, we do extensive research, especially like food wise,
Speaker 5: and my wife and I basically travel for food, and
Speaker 5: we basically figure out what else we do based on
Speaker 5: where we're eating or you know, what snacks or what
Speaker 5: places we're visiting for food, and so Yeah, we definitely
Speaker 5: do a lot of research.
Speaker 4: And as you.
Speaker 5: Say, I think it's important to kind of figure out
Speaker 5: a bit about the country you're going to, because one
Speaker 5: of the things I would always hate is to be
Speaker 5: like the ugly tourist that's not necessarily aware of doing things,
Speaker 5: because sometimes you don't even know that you're doing something
Speaker 5: that is kind of not appreciated or something that you
Speaker 5: know maybe you shouldn't be doing. So I agree, I
Speaker 5: think it's very important to, you know, do a little research,
Speaker 5: look up like how people interact, how to greet people,
Speaker 5: get like a basic vocabulary down, even if you don't
Speaker 5: memorize them. Or what I do is I have I
Speaker 5: make like notes on my notesap on my phone with
Speaker 5: you know, a handful of words for restaurants, handful of
Speaker 5: words for greetings, a handful of words for appreciation. And
Speaker 5: I think those are especially good because it shows that
Speaker 5: you're like making an effort to be appreciative and to
Speaker 5: kind of integrate because unfortunately, a lot of people that travel,
Speaker 5: and this can sometimes be a cultural thing, get to
Speaker 5: places and they communicate the way they do at home,
Speaker 5: and that can sometimes come off as being very rude,
Speaker 5: and that'll rub people like the wrong way and can
Speaker 5: be very counterproductive. Here, for example, there's like a formal
Speaker 5: way of addressing people and then like a direct way
Speaker 5: of addressing people. And if you know the person, addressing
Speaker 5: them directly is fine, but if you don't, it can
Speaker 5: come off a little kind of pretentious or a little
Speaker 5: like disrespectful. And so it's that kind of thing that's
Speaker 5: good to know before you head to a place.
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, So when we lived in the UK, they
Speaker 1: have a very specific manner. Even though I'm half well,
Speaker 1: i am officially a British citizen as well as an
Speaker 1: Australian citizen.
Speaker 6: But Australians are very direct, not as direct as.
Speaker 1: The Dutch, but we can be very very specific and
Speaker 1: it can be very uncomfortable for people who aren't used
Speaker 1: to that level of specificity when it comes to expressing
Speaker 1: preferences and you know.
Speaker 6: So I always remember when we lived in England, people
Speaker 6: who say.
Speaker 1: Oh, you must come around for a cup of tea
Speaker 1: and how about now, you know, and they don't they
Speaker 1: don't mean that, I mean maybe in the future, some
Speaker 1: vague time in the future, you know, and pressing them
Speaker 1: on a day a time is really awkward. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I think we should definitely get into some of the
Speaker 1: especially those language things before we get there. I love
Speaker 1: getting to a place and you immediately feel like something's different,
Speaker 1: you know, like it's different than your home, and I just.
Speaker 6: Love that feeling.
Speaker 1: I get so energized when you arrive in Rome in Italy.
Speaker 1: What do you think that feeling is when you arrive?
Speaker 5: Well, to be perfectly honest, it's one of the things
Speaker 5: that I'm most jealous of visitors, because I'm incredibly lucky
Speaker 5: to have been raised here, but it means that I've
Speaker 5: never seen Rome like with new eyes for the first time,
Speaker 5: and so I've always been jealous of people that. Obviously,
Speaker 5: I mean, as I said, I'm very lucky but raised here,
Speaker 5: but I think it must be incredible to experience a
Speaker 5: city that has so much cultural heritage, so much beauty,
Speaker 5: so much food. And Rome is a very big city.
Speaker 5: It's like larger than the nine largest cities after Rome
Speaker 5: in Italy fit within the circumference of Rome, which is
Speaker 5: why I can seem a bit overwhelming in comparison to
Speaker 5: say Florence or Bologna or Milan or whatever, and so
Speaker 5: it can be a bit much. Italians are quite animated,
Speaker 5: we're very affectionate, we're quite loud. I don't know, and
Speaker 5: so it can be a bit of a sensory overload,
Speaker 5: but I imagine it must be spectacularly interesting because I think
Speaker 5: of Rome is an open air museum, and I think
Speaker 5: all the sites that they are at to see, you
Speaker 5: should definitely do your best to see them. But then
Speaker 5: I also think it's important to take the time to
Speaker 5: just like walk around the center a bit, maybe like away,
Speaker 5: like down the little alleys, because Rome is so beautiful
Speaker 5: and we have so much incredible stuff absolutely everywhere. I
Speaker 5: think one of the best things you can do is
Speaker 5: just walk around and like look up at buildings and
Speaker 5: you know, listen to the saints and sounds. Stop for
Speaker 5: a coffee, you know, sit in a square for a bit,
Speaker 5: try to interact with a local, and yeah, you'll get
Speaker 5: a much fuller experience.
Speaker 4: Out of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for someone who's like a frequent visitor to Italy
Speaker 1: and my first threell you and I get off the
Speaker 1: plane is the the energy.
Speaker 6: There's a different energy and it's really fun.
Speaker 1: Some people might find it scary at first, but you know,
Speaker 1: the traffic is a bit chaotic, but there's that, but
Speaker 1: there's also that there's a fastness and a slowness, and
Speaker 1: so when people are walking, they're not rushing. No one's
Speaker 1: rushing when they're walking, and they're sort of like ambling
Speaker 1: along and they might be arm in arm with their
Speaker 1: friend or their partner or whoever, and it's just it's
Speaker 1: a different like there's these fast paces, scooters zipping in
Speaker 1: and out, and then you've got this, you know, piano piano,
Speaker 1: this slower, you know, mode of traveling. Like I just
Speaker 1: love that contrast actually when you see that, and then
Speaker 1: also the noise and the you know, the honking of
Speaker 1: the horns and whatnot, like it's always in the background,
Speaker 1: and it's just, Yeah, it's such a great thing to do,
Speaker 1: is just to sit there and really soak it all
Speaker 1: up and just take notice of what's going on, because
Speaker 1: it is different to where you're from, and I think,
Speaker 1: you know, some people maybe get a bit anxious about it,
Speaker 1: but if you just notice and just notice the differences
Speaker 1: and lean into it, I think that's where it gets
Speaker 1: really exciting.
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, one hundred percent. And I think it's one
Speaker 5: of the things that makes travel so much fun because
Speaker 5: when you're home, you know, home is wonderful, but you
Speaker 5: know everything, you're used to everything, you know how to
Speaker 5: navigate everything, and so to get into a new place
Speaker 5: is always so much fun to me because it's like, well,
Speaker 5: how does this place work? What does this place look like?
Speaker 5: Sound like, smell like, feel like it? So yeah, I
Speaker 5: agree completely. Those first hours are like day or two
Speaker 5: when you get into a place, are so interesting. And
Speaker 5: you know, the more you travel, the more you see,
Speaker 5: the more your mind you know, opens, the more things
Speaker 5: and foods you experience. So yeah, it's one of the
Speaker 5: things where I've always loved travel. It's like food and
Speaker 5: travel are my absolute favorite things in the world.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's why we like each other so much.
Speaker 1: So the thing is, I think as well lately, I
Speaker 1: think fund's gone out of travel a bit.
Speaker 6: That's why I wanted to talk to you about this.
Speaker 1: When you suggested these topics, I was like, yes, let's
Speaker 1: do it, because travel's got a little bit too. I
Speaker 1: don't know, like everyone's like, you do have to plan,
Speaker 1: and I'm very good at sharing how to plan.
Speaker 6: Because it's and it's important.
Speaker 1: You know, if you're going and you want to see
Speaker 1: things like the coliseum, you have to do these days Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: it's just you know, these the spontaneity has gone out
Speaker 1: of that so things. But you know, I first started
Speaker 1: traveling when I was younger. It was that real excitement
Speaker 1: of experiencing new places and different ways of doing things
Speaker 1: that really captured my imagination. And I was saying to
Speaker 1: someone earlier today, I grew up in the suburb where
Speaker 1: two very big travel brands started. One is Lonely Planet
Speaker 1: and the other one is Intrepid Travel. And these are
Speaker 1: really big global brands that started in the same suburb
Speaker 1: as me where I grew up, and that's Glen Iris
Speaker 1: for those of you who live in Melbourne, and Glen
Speaker 1: Iris is great.
Speaker 6: It's a lovely suburb, but it's very boring.
Speaker 1: So first opportunity that I had, I was out of there,
Speaker 1: you know, because I wanted to see the world.
Speaker 6: And it's because of these differences.
Speaker 1: Okay, So no, see, now you mentioned language and some
Speaker 1: words and you know, being respectful with certain words in Italian.
Speaker 1: One of the most popular words in Italian is chow.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about choo for a bit, shall we, because
Speaker 1: I think people want to say, hey, jow bella choo,
Speaker 1: you know, but maybe we need to go a little
Speaker 1: bit more slowly before we launch into our chows.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: So chow is a very versatile word and you can
Speaker 5: use it for more than just greetings. But it is
Speaker 5: a greeting that you would use, so it can mean
Speaker 5: both hello and goodbye. As a goodbye, you can use
Speaker 5: it in most situations. But it is quite direct, Like
Speaker 5: going back to what I was saying about there being
Speaker 5: a direct way and a more formal way of addressing someone.
Speaker 5: And so if you walk into a place and you
Speaker 5: say choo, and you've never been to this place before,
Speaker 5: you are greeting them, you are putting in the effort.
Speaker 5: It is nice, but it may not come off like
Speaker 5: that to an Italian person because like Italians are very
Speaker 5: warm and friendly and welcoming, but there's this kind of
Speaker 5: dance that is somewhat expected of you, and it would
Speaker 5: kind of be like coming.
Speaker 4: In guns blazing a bit.
Speaker 5: No, it's like coming into a place that you've never
Speaker 5: been to in an English speaking country and addressing someone
Speaker 5: kind of like saying like hey, and so, yeah, chow
Speaker 5: is great, but I always start with salvi. Salvi is yeah,
Speaker 5: like a polite way of saying hello. It's fairly informal,
Speaker 5: so it comes off like very easy, but it shows
Speaker 5: respect and by addressing especially older people like someone older
Speaker 5: than you, but not only shows that you're being respectful,
Speaker 5: and it makes them more receptive to you. And so
Speaker 5: chow is great, especially if you're familiar with someone, but
Speaker 5: like say, you know, you're saying someone there's like a
Speaker 5: cafe that you go to in the morning to have
Speaker 5: your coffee.
Speaker 4: The first time, you know, be more formal.
Speaker 5: Then by the time if you go back a second time,
Speaker 5: you know, and by the third they'll probably recognize you.
Speaker 5: By then you can get a lot more familiar, you know,
Speaker 5: and they'll warm to you a lot more like here
Speaker 5: in Rome if you go to a place, like even
Speaker 5: me who grew up here, if I go to a
Speaker 5: place for the first time, they tend to be quite
Speaker 5: stony and cold.
Speaker 4: By the third time they're your best.
Speaker 5: Friend, you know, because they see that you appreciate them,
Speaker 5: you appreciate what they're selling, and especially if you're nice
Speaker 5: and you're polite and you say things like schoozy Salve grazia.
Speaker 5: It is true that coming from a hospitality background, I
Speaker 5: always take the time to thank everyone, and you know,
Speaker 5: because I think a lot of people forget that when
Speaker 5: you're dealing with hospitality businesses, you are still dealing with humans,
Speaker 5: and so it is nice to go the extra mile,
Speaker 5: and you know it not just being transactional, where in
Speaker 5: some countries maybe that is absolutely fine and it's like
Speaker 5: you're not required to do that little song and dance,
Speaker 5: but that song and dance is very appreciated here in Italy.
Speaker 1: Quick Break shorter than your morning espresso for on the go,
Speaker 1: curated travel tips, restaurant recommendations and fun things to do
Speaker 1: in classic and hidden spots across Italy. Download the Untold
Speaker 1: Italy app link in the show notes.
Speaker 5: And So, I think salve is one of the best
Speaker 5: words that you can have in your repertoire because it's
Speaker 5: a word that Italians don't necessarily expect foreigners to know,
Speaker 5: and it's a very nice, polite way of like opening
Speaker 5: the interaction.
Speaker 6: Yes, I love salve. It's very good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, people do look surprised when you say that, actually yeah.
Speaker 1: And also one of Jonata, which is you know, enjoy
Speaker 1: the rest of your day basically, and that's a really
Speaker 1: good one too. Be they're not expecting that one either,
Speaker 1: because it's kind of colloquial, right, not colloquial, but it's
Speaker 1: like a more local way of saying things.
Speaker 6: So you're not going to learn that one necessarily in school.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, exactly.
Speaker 5: And it's ways that locals communicate. And I try to
Speaker 5: learn like little words like this when I travel too,
Speaker 5: because it shows it's a very easy way to show
Speaker 5: that you have put in the effort. I agree, And
Speaker 5: a little goes a long way, and so they'll be
Speaker 5: much more appreciative the effort, you know, is noticed and
Speaker 5: is welcome, as opposed to some countries where maybe if
Speaker 5: you try to speak to them in their own language
Speaker 5: if you don't, like I'm half French and I love
Speaker 5: the French, but they can sometimes be a bit much
Speaker 5: if you know, you mispronounce something like I don't understand,
Speaker 5: you know, Whereas in Italy, even if you don't pronounce
Speaker 5: it perfectly, it's still very much appreciated. So as long
Speaker 5: as you're putting in the effort, then a little goes
Speaker 5: a long way.
Speaker 6: That's so true. Is there any other words that you
Speaker 6: think might be useful schools?
Speaker 4: Is alve permisso or you pay miss so? Yeah?
Speaker 5: Is how you say, like, excuse me if you're trying
Speaker 5: to pass. Prego is also very useful. Prego means you're welcome,
Speaker 5: but it also means like after you. So, like, I know,
Speaker 5: if I'm walking on an arrow sidewalk and you know
Speaker 5: there's someone that has their shopping bags, or you know
Speaker 5: there's an older person coming my way, I'll step out
Speaker 5: the way and I'll be like prego, And it's a
Speaker 5: very polite way of saying like go ahead, you know.
Speaker 4: Go by.
Speaker 6: How do you say Gratian?
Speaker 4: Ah?
Speaker 5: Yes, right, So in Italy you pronounce all of the letters,
Speaker 5: and so it's grat cy. The z in Italian is
Speaker 5: often pronounced as p s, especially in the middle of
Speaker 5: the word, and so it's grat ye because it's g
Speaker 5: r a z I e and so you pronounce both
Speaker 5: the i and the e. So if you say gratzy,
Speaker 5: you say gratse, you say, they'll understand it, but.
Speaker 4: It's grats yea.
Speaker 5: The ye sound is sometimes harder for non Italians to
Speaker 5: get to.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and it's thank you.
Speaker 1: So I think if you're going to make the effort
Speaker 1: to say thank you, then it's nice to actually say it,
Speaker 1: you know, correctly, if you can, so gratsy.
Speaker 5: It Yeah, and there's also a difference when you're greeting
Speaker 5: someone between like in the time.
Speaker 4: Of day you're greeting them.
Speaker 5: So during the day, say until about lunchtime, it's bon
Speaker 5: Giorno is day bono is good, whereas in the like
Speaker 5: afternoon evening, it's b is evening. Technically there's a third one,
Speaker 5: which is buon pomio Pomitico's afternoon, and so theoretically it's
Speaker 5: bon Jordan until about lunchtime. From lunchtime until about four
Speaker 5: or five o'clock it's bon pomrijo, and then in the
Speaker 5: evening it's bonas. But to be honest, like at least
Speaker 5: in room, no one really says bompo mediutuo. So I
Speaker 5: just do bonjo until about lunchtime, and then once it's
Speaker 5: the afternoon, when you're leaving, you say buenaa. It's that
Speaker 5: extra little thing that lets them know that you know,
Speaker 5: you've done the research, and then I actually think that
Speaker 5: you just live there and you're not just a visitor.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1: And what about do you want to express appreciation for food,
Speaker 1: because I think that's very important. You know, the fastest
Speaker 1: way to make friends within an Italian needs to appreciate their.
Speaker 5: Food, right absolutely, So there's a number of ways to
Speaker 5: say like delicious, so bono is good, belo is beautiful.
Speaker 5: Food wise, you would always use buono, not ballo. So
Speaker 5: bo bicimo is like even more delicious, delicioso is delicious.
Speaker 4: Obviously words are very very similar. But then the one.
Speaker 5: I prefer to use is spit taco laradi spectacular and
Speaker 5: here in Rome you can even just say spit tacoo
Speaker 5: and they get very very proud. Like basically, the more
Speaker 5: effusive the word, the prouder and happier they'll be. And
Speaker 5: so something like spittacolare they will definitely not expect from
Speaker 5: a visitor and it will make them very very happy.
Speaker 5: And then there's ways that you can gesticulate, and an
Speaker 5: easy one that I can describe verbally is by putting
Speaker 5: your index finger to your cheek and twisting, And that's
Speaker 5: how we teach kids to say delicious. But there's some
Speaker 5: hand gestures that you can use too. I out use
Speaker 5: them to you if you come on tour. But yeah,
Speaker 5: spin tacolare or spittacoo is like my favorite one to
Speaker 5: convey like really delicious.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what about a hand gesture that people maybe shouldn't use.
Speaker 5: There's one which I find hilarious, which I think is
Speaker 5: like the biggest emoji misconception of all times, the chef's
Speaker 5: kiss emoji. What people think those like the fingers like
Speaker 5: coming to a point with the thumb pointing upwards. That's
Speaker 5: the Italian hand gesture for what are you talking about?
Speaker 5: And most Italians don't really do the chef's kiss. It
Speaker 5: is understood what you're doing. But the most common one
Speaker 5: is you kind of wave your hand in a circular
Speaker 5: motion kind of while looking somewhat upset and taking like
Speaker 5: a deep breath that shows that you know. I think
Speaker 5: of it as maybe like the food is so good
Speaker 5: that you're fanning yourself because you're a little faint, and
Speaker 5: it's so good that it's making you a little angry.
Speaker 5: The chef's kiss one I find very funny because to
Speaker 5: an Italian indust read it's like, this was the best
Speaker 5: food in the world.
Speaker 4: What are you talking about?
Speaker 6: That's so good? Do you know who?
Speaker 1: I Reckon does the best waving gesture with the food.
Speaker 1: I call it the food face a mutual bread of veils.
Speaker 1: Andrea does it really well, like I Reckon he's got
Speaker 1: the moves when it comes to that.
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: What about when it comes to dressing, because I know
Speaker 1: Italians and really when you arrive, you.
Speaker 6: Just notice they're making an effort.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 1: I said to my daughter the other day when we
Speaker 1: were on the train into the city here in Melbourne,
Speaker 1: and I said, look at this, like they're all just
Speaker 1: wearing tracksuits.
Speaker 6: I know that's the style these days for the kids.
Speaker 1: But you know, I said, what I want you to
Speaker 1: do is just keep an eye up for different outfits
Speaker 1: that look really good. Like let's see, you know who's
Speaker 1: actually made an effort to put their outfit together, you know,
Speaker 1: because that's one thing I really love when I go
Speaker 1: to Italy, even like ladies that are in their nineties
Speaker 1: are walking along and they just you know, completely put together.
Speaker 6: I love it.
Speaker 5: So Italians are very I mean, this is one of
Speaker 5: the countries of fashion where you have like lots of
Speaker 5: like big name fashion brands, and so Italians are they
Speaker 5: do lake fashion a lot. They like looking nacee. There's
Speaker 5: actually a term called fati bel la figura, which sounds
Speaker 5: like it's like to make a good figure, but it
Speaker 5: means like to come across in a very nice.
Speaker 4: Way, like you look very nice.
Speaker 5: Like esthetically it can be applied to like the way
Speaker 5: you like act and maybe communicate to But Italians are
Speaker 5: very conscious of the way they look, and they like
Speaker 5: to look nice when they leave the house for virtually anything.
Speaker 5: I mean sometimes even just to go to the supermarket.
Speaker 5: You'll see like a lady in full makeup and heels
Speaker 5: and not like looking nice. And as you say, like,
Speaker 5: you know, you'll see like older ladies head out and
Speaker 5: they've done their makeup and they've gotten their hair done,
Speaker 5: and you know, they're wearing like their nice shirt. And
Speaker 5: so I agree with you, it is appreciated here to
Speaker 5: make a little more of an effort. As you say,
Speaker 5: I think in many Western cultures it's like more and
Speaker 5: more common to just value comfort over anything else.
Speaker 4: And I admit that me too.
Speaker 5: I'll sometimes leave the house and like flip flops and
Speaker 5: a pair of comfy shorts and you know, maybe a
Speaker 5: tank top or whatever. But it is nice and Italians
Speaker 5: do appreciate if, you know, make a little bit of effort,
Speaker 5: especially if you're eating.
Speaker 4: In a restaurant, or you're.
Speaker 5: You know, going to museum, or you know you're going
Speaker 5: down like the main shopping areas. It is something that
Speaker 5: Italians notice and appreciate when you put a little more
Speaker 5: effort into it. Plus it's always nice to you know,
Speaker 5: if you look good, you feel good, and you're on vacation.
Speaker 5: It kind of just amplifies everything. I will say that
Speaker 5: not all Italians have the best fashion sense, like like
Speaker 5: anywhere in the world, of course, and say sometimes fashion
Speaker 5: choices here may be questionable. And Italians do definitely love fads.
Speaker 5: It's often easy to tell what the fad is at
Speaker 5: the moment because you know, everyone seems to jump on
Speaker 5: the bandwagon. But yeah, Italians are very fashionable. It is
Speaker 5: one of the main countries for a fashion and effort
Speaker 5: in that aspect goes a long way too.
Speaker 1: And of the hats, people are always wearing hats. Initially,
Speaker 1: I think it's great you've got a really good cap
Speaker 1: that you wear.
Speaker 6: It's kind of like your signature movie, isn't it.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I absolutely love cagle caps, which actually are in Australian Yeah,
Speaker 5: and yeah here they call it the scopoletta, which is
Speaker 5: kind of the The cagole is like part of it,
Speaker 5: but it's like the Sicilian like little beret kind of thing,
Speaker 5: and so yeah, Italians will often comment on my scopoleta.
Speaker 6: I like it too.
Speaker 1: It's good all right in terms of other habits. So
Speaker 1: there's some really interesting things. And at the top of
Speaker 1: the episode that I mentioned about the traffic, and there
Speaker 1: is actually an art to crossing the road, isn't it?
Speaker 6: Like seriously?
Speaker 4: Oh? Absolutely?
Speaker 5: So I half jokingly say that it's like an ever
Speaker 5: ending game of chicken. Whoever hesitates loses and doesn't get
Speaker 5: to cross.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 5: Rome is kind of like the midway point between north
Speaker 5: and south. So in the north people tend to drive
Speaker 5: a little more normally and we'll maybe respect traffic signs
Speaker 5: and stuff more. And then the further south you go
Speaker 5: the kind of more colorful manner we drive. But the
Speaker 5: rules that we have in Rome you can kind of
Speaker 5: apply anywhere.
Speaker 4: This is how I describe it.
Speaker 5: You look at what's going on now, so you're at
Speaker 5: the edge of the sidewalk, and if the car isn't
Speaker 5: too close and isn't moving too fast, you just start
Speaker 5: crossing the street.
Speaker 4: You don't really need to look for.
Speaker 5: The zebra stripes the street crossings, because they unfortunately don't
Speaker 5: really mean much. Yeah, like I have joked that they're
Speaker 5: mostly decorative. And so you start crossing the street. If
Speaker 5: the car isn't too close and isn't moving too fast,
Speaker 5: you must stare at the driver while you do this,
Speaker 5: or they think you're not paying attention and they'll try
Speaker 5: to freak you out even more than they normally will.
Speaker 5: They will stop at the last possible second to make
Speaker 5: you think that we're not going to stop, so that
Speaker 5: you hesitate and we keep going. And I say week
Speaker 5: because I do this too. Part of the thought is
Speaker 5: that if you don't know how to navigate the street crossing,
Speaker 5: you're going to slow me down. So I'm going to
Speaker 5: do what I can to deter you from crossing, and
Speaker 5: then if you cross, there's like a kind of grudging
Speaker 5: respect that I will concede.
Speaker 4: Whereas if I.
Speaker 5: Do manage to scare you into not crossing, you know,
Speaker 5: you may think, ah, maybe you're not from here, maybe
Speaker 5: you don't really know how to navigate, and then you
Speaker 5: shouldn't wave, smile or do anything nice until the car
Speaker 5: starts to slow down, because there you also give way
Speaker 5: that you're maybe not a local, and they may try
Speaker 5: to scale you into not crossing. But yeah, there's kind
Speaker 5: of back and forth. There's this like game that you
Speaker 5: have to play and they will stop.
Speaker 4: They actually will.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and now you got to just look into their eyes,
Speaker 1: you know, you make eye contact basically.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you're you're acknowledging that you see them, and you're
Speaker 5: not nervous, you're not scared, you're not hesitant, because all
Speaker 5: of those are signs that you're not used to crossing here,
Speaker 5: and so we kind of assume that you're not from
Speaker 5: here and.
Speaker 6: You don't live here, and you're going to slow them down.
Speaker 5: Yes, exactly, So stare at them, you know, And you know,
Speaker 5: I admit I'm not encouraging anyone to do this, but
Speaker 5: if I'm crossing a street and I see the person
Speaker 5: isn't slowing down at all, I'll sometimes stop and turn
Speaker 5: towards the car and stick my arms out like, hey, buddy, you.
Speaker 4: Know here I am. I see you too. You know
Speaker 4: you're not scaring me.
Speaker 5: But yeah, there's definitely a kind of grudge respect that
Speaker 5: you give people that cross that way, and then once
Speaker 5: they slow down, once they stop, you can smile, wave,
Speaker 5: do whatever you like. Also, rushing across the street obviously
Speaker 5: played by ear if it's like a very big multi
Speaker 5: lane and there's lots of cars feel free to rush through.
Speaker 5: But that's also something that Italians don't necessarily do. Like
Speaker 5: you cross it kind of your own pace and that
Speaker 5: you know you don't have to kind.
Speaker 4: Of rush across either. No, you're crossing your on foot.
Speaker 5: You know, they're in a car, they're faster, they can
Speaker 5: get to where they're going.
Speaker 1: I love it. It's like, I'm going to do this
Speaker 1: my way. But isn't it funny as soon as you
Speaker 1: get in you're like taking your time ambling along, and
Speaker 1: then as soon as you get in the car the
Speaker 1: lid foot comes out.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you know behind the wheel, I'm like, why
Speaker 5: isn't this person rushing? Whereas when I'm on foot, I'm like, oh, well,
Speaker 5: why is the car you know, angry that I'm not rushing?
Speaker 6: So funny.
Speaker 1: I've just had a like complete lights on moment about
Speaker 1: my husband.
Speaker 6: It does exactly the same thing. Is so slow that
Speaker 6: he walks. It's really good. He gets behind the car.
Speaker 6: It's like, oh, anyway, Oh, so these other things like timing.
Speaker 1: And I was talking to Olivia the other day, who's
Speaker 1: on the Untold Italy team.
Speaker 6: She's just moved to Denmark, and.
Speaker 1: She said, oh, we've totally changed our lifestyle. We started
Speaker 1: having dinner at six thirty at night time. I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's interesting, because obviously, when you're in Italy, there's no
Speaker 1: way anyone would be having dinner at six thirty.
Speaker 4: Most places are actually closed at six thirty.
Speaker 5: And if a restaurant is serving food between like three
Speaker 5: thirty and seven seven thirty, it's kind of a red flag,
Speaker 5: Like it doesn't automatically make it a toast trap, but
Speaker 5: you know, do a little more research, because most locals
Speaker 5: do not sit down for food between three thirty and seven.
Speaker 4: If we're hungry, we'll have like a little snack.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and different cities and different areas have different snacks.
Speaker 5: But it is true that Italians in generally later at home.
Speaker 4: They tend to have dinner around eight pm.
Speaker 5: And when we eat out, we tend to eat even later,
Speaker 5: and so this can sometimes be problematic for cultures that
Speaker 5: do eat earlier. But I would recommend to, you know,
Speaker 5: take local approach and if you're hungry in the afternoon,
Speaker 5: maybe have a little snack and hold out for a
Speaker 5: local place that'll open around you know, seven seven thirty,
Speaker 5: seven forty five. And that's actually one of the ways
Speaker 5: that like, if you want to eat in a place
Speaker 5: and you can't get a reservation, if you show up
Speaker 5: right when they open and you say, look, all we
Speaker 5: want is like a quiate of pasta or whatever, they'll
Speaker 5: often be able to seat you because restaurants, good restaurants
Speaker 5: at least stagger their bookings so that you don't flood
Speaker 5: the restaurant at once because the kitchen comes to a
Speaker 5: screaming halt.
Speaker 4: You can't put out food for fifty people at a time.
Speaker 6: Let's take a quick moment. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1: If you've been dreaming of experiencing Italy the way it's
Speaker 1: meant to be lived, slow, unhurried and with locals who
Speaker 1: open their homes and hearts. Our Untold Italy tours are
Speaker 1: now open for twenty twenty six and beyond.
Speaker 6: We handle every detail so you can just show up
Speaker 6: and soak in the magic. Spots are limited and many
Speaker 6: feel months in advance. Check the link in the show
Speaker 6: notes or visit untold itally tools dot com for details.
Speaker 5: And so it's why often if you walk into a
Speaker 5: place that's very fancy as soon as they open and
Speaker 5: you haven't booked. They'll sometimes say, I'm sorry, we don't
Speaker 5: have a table, even though there's literally no one there,
Speaker 5: because the tables have been booked for a seven, seven, fifteen,
Speaker 5: seven thirty, some forty five eight and so on. But
Speaker 5: if you do show up and say there's just like
Speaker 5: two of you and you say, look, all we want
Speaker 5: is like a quick plate of food, they'll often think
Speaker 5: about it I and be like, okay, I can seat you,
Speaker 5: but I need the table back by nine, as if
Speaker 5: it's an impossibility to eat in less than ninety minutes,
Speaker 5: you know, and it shows you kind of the way
Speaker 5: Italians view a meal out ninety minutes is a rushed meal,
Speaker 5: whereas in many other countries ninety minutes is like a
Speaker 5: very long, leisurely like relaxed, whereas in Italy it's kind
Speaker 5: of like.
Speaker 4: A rushed lunch.
Speaker 5: So yeah, it's definitely worth, in my opinion, waiting to
Speaker 5: eat at the times that other people do. And you
Speaker 5: mentioned lived in Denmark, I will say that when I,
Speaker 5: for example, go to Denmark, I follow those societal arms,
Speaker 5: so I don't cross the street the way I do
Speaker 5: here because no one does there. And I admit I
Speaker 5: find it really hard when I'm sitting at a red
Speaker 5: light for the pedestrians and there's not a car in sight,
Speaker 5: Like my body is twitching to just cross the street,
Speaker 5: and I'm like, no, I'm in a place where that is,
Speaker 5: you know, frowned upon, So I'm not going to do it.
Speaker 4: As much as it's m D jerk reaction to.
Speaker 5: That's a perfect example of something that you do to
Speaker 5: like fit in and show respect to the society and
Speaker 5: the societal norms of the place you're in.
Speaker 1: Is there any other of those type of habits that
Speaker 1: you can think of? I think you know, you did
Speaker 1: mention snacks and that's really a pairt to you bo r,
Speaker 1: which is like the most civilized thing in the world
Speaker 1: as far as I'm concerned, is to have a little
Speaker 1: drink in the snack before the main meal.
Speaker 6: I mean, Italians just don't stop eating. It's fabulous, you.
Speaker 4: Know, It's funny.
Speaker 5: I'll say at least half of the conversations you hear
Speaker 5: when you're walking around around other Italians are about food.
Speaker 4: They're talking about.
Speaker 5: Like what they've eaten, what they will be eating, what
Speaker 5: they prepared the other day, what they bought at the market,
Speaker 5: what they plan to cook, it's a very food centric entry.
Speaker 5: In most food decisions or food choices revolve around digestibility.
Speaker 4: Italians have this funny fixation with digestion.
Speaker 5: It's one of the things that allows us to eat
Speaker 5: the ridiculous quantities of food that we do on a
Speaker 5: regular basis while remaining somewhat healthy, let's say. And so
Speaker 5: there's a number of tricks, Like, Italians have a fairly
Speaker 5: specific way of eating and ordering food and things, and
Speaker 5: it in part plays to this digestive benefit. So you
Speaker 5: mentioned aptidivo, which is the practice of having like a
Speaker 5: drink before your meal. So it's something that started in Milan,
Speaker 5: if I remember correctly, between say like five when you
Speaker 5: were let out of work and around eight when you
Speaker 5: would go to dinner, you would go to a bar
Speaker 5: in Italy as a cafe where they also serve alcohol,
Speaker 5: and you would get like a drink. Often that drink
Speaker 5: has digestive benefits. So the Sprits is the most popular
Speaker 5: appity TiVo drink. The Aperol marketing team has done an
Speaker 5: incredible job of spreading the Spirits to like every known
Speaker 5: corner of the planet. Apparol has bitterness to it, so
Speaker 5: does Compoti, which is The other main liquor that you
Speaker 5: use for sprits is compody, is a lot more bitter,
Speaker 5: and bitterness is one of these digestive tricks. Bitterness kick
Speaker 5: starts the production of saliva and gastric juices, and so
Speaker 5: it either readies your body for food or it kicks
Speaker 5: your digestion back into gear after you've eaten a lot,
Speaker 5: which is why Italians also finish the meal with normally
Speaker 5: a combination of an espresso and then.
Speaker 4: A digestive liquor.
Speaker 5: The bitterness in the coffee will help you digest and
Speaker 5: the caffeine.
Speaker 4: Will stop you from passing out into a food coma.
Speaker 5: But you don't want to be too alert after your meal,
Speaker 5: so then the digestive liquor and the whole category they're
Speaker 5: called amato, which is the Italian word for bitter. The
Speaker 5: amato kind of, you know, negates the over stimulating effects
Speaker 5: of the caffeine and kind of levels everything up.
Speaker 4: And here in Rome we call that combination at the end.
Speaker 5: Of the meal cafette matza cafet, which means the coffee
Speaker 5: and the coffee killer. And actually this is a big one.
Speaker 5: If you want to fit in, if you want a
Speaker 5: coffee in a cafe. In a buyer, you never say
Speaker 5: the word espresso, and it's espresso not expresso. You simply
Speaker 5: say um cafe un cafette, which means one coffee in
Speaker 5: that context means an espresso. And then you know if
Speaker 5: you want it with a little foam, it's caffe machiato.
Speaker 4: Scum auto actually is from because scuma is.
Speaker 5: From Machiato is a little bit of firm, a little milk.
Speaker 4: And then if you.
Speaker 5: Want cappuccino or cafelati you would specify. But cafet is
Speaker 5: the way you order an espressoonally.
Speaker 1: And there's so many things, but I think you don't
Speaker 1: need to know all of them, but I think it's
Speaker 1: good to know if you now, Nazeen, how about some
Speaker 1: things that visitors do when they go to Italy that
Speaker 1: bug Italians.
Speaker 6: There's always something, I think.
Speaker 5: So as we were talking about before, I think one
Speaker 5: of the most common is not greeting, not being polite
Speaker 5: and respectful in their eyes. So say you do walk
Speaker 5: into a bar and you walk up to the person
Speaker 5: making the barista and you just shut out your order
Speaker 5: or just call out your order without acknowledging them, without
Speaker 5: addressing them. And saying hello. That's considered quite rude, and
Speaker 5: I mean there are Italians that do that too, unfortunately,
Speaker 5: but that's something that they'll kind of bristle to a bit.
Speaker 5: You know, you're expected to kind of or it's nicer
Speaker 5: for you to address the person first. Another big no
Speaker 5: no is being in a market and starting to touch
Speaker 5: the fruit and veg to select yourself. If you see
Speaker 5: other people doing that in a market at a stand,
Speaker 5: it means that that person goes to that stand knows
Speaker 5: the vendor, and the vendor as a special exception is
Speaker 5: letting them pick their own stuff. But you normally ask
Speaker 5: the person to give you, however much of whatever thing
Speaker 5: you want. So that's another big thing that will rub
Speaker 5: people the wrong.
Speaker 1: Way when you're in the supermarket, because I do love
Speaker 1: going into any supermarket wherever I go, because the Italian
Speaker 1: ones are so good. Like even if it's a supermarket,
Speaker 1: it's still worth going inside. But if you want to
Speaker 1: like get an apple or you know anything, you need
Speaker 1: to put the plastic gloves on, right.
Speaker 5: Yes, yes, yes, absolutely, So the same area where you'll
Speaker 5: have like the rolls of baggies to put your like
Speaker 5: fruit and veg in. They are going to be these
Speaker 5: disposable gloves. Those are the ones that you need to
Speaker 5: put on to grab your stuff, so you're not like handling,
Speaker 5: you know, so that hundreds of people aren't handling all
Speaker 5: of the fruit and beds that you know someone will
Speaker 5: eventually buy and bring.
Speaker 6: It really makes sense, doesn't it.
Speaker 4: It really does, especially.
Speaker 6: In these post COVID times. I don't know how much we've.
Speaker 5: Lived, but anyway, another thing is and this is a
Speaker 5: big one, and I think that it's very easy to
Speaker 5: forget this when you're on vacation. But just remember that
Speaker 5: these are cities where people live, you know. So if
Speaker 5: you're navigating the little downtown alleys of any Italian city,
Speaker 5: just remember that the sidewalks in Italy are often not
Speaker 5: the best. They're often quite narrow, they're often quite sloped.
Speaker 5: So Italians often like to walk in the street, but
Speaker 5: we are always aware of if there's.
Speaker 4: Traffic coming behind us, in which case we will.
Speaker 5: Get out the way, we'll let the car vehicle pass,
Speaker 5: and then we go back to walking in the street.
Speaker 5: And that's something that especially in the more popular cities.
Speaker 5: And I recently went to Florence, and the taxis in Florence. Now,
Speaker 5: the beeping that trucks make when they back up taxis
Speaker 5: have that sound when they're driving forward through the little
Speaker 5: alleys of downtown Florence because people are just walking the
Speaker 5: street and they don't get out of the way.
Speaker 4: Now, admit, what.
Speaker 5: I do is I just lean on the horn and
Speaker 5: I kind of, you know, make my presence known, so
Speaker 5: people start getting out of the way, like you know,
Speaker 5: before I'm close, because honking here is not as from
Speaker 5: the palm as it is in many other places, let's say.
Speaker 5: But that's a big one. And so just like keeping
Speaker 5: wits about you, remembering that as beautiful as it is,
Speaker 5: there are people that live here and we do need
Speaker 5: to kind of go about our daily lives. And so
Speaker 5: that's something that can definitely rub locals the wrong way,
Speaker 5: especially in the crowded central areas. And even like the
Speaker 5: way you dress going to certain places. So one of
Speaker 5: the beauties of this country has is all of the
Speaker 5: incredible churches that we have. You should dress respectfully when
Speaker 5: you enter a church. Theoretically you shouldn't have shorts on.
Speaker 5: I understand in the summer everyone's wearing shorts. That's fine too,
Speaker 5: But if you have like a tank top and you know,
Speaker 5: shorts and flip flops.
Speaker 4: Maybe like visit a church when.
Speaker 5: You're like dressed a little better now, when you have
Speaker 5: like a little more covering on, and when you're in
Speaker 5: a church as beautiful as it is, remember that it
Speaker 5: actually is a church, So kind of keep your voice down,
Speaker 5: be aware of other people there. And I think a
Speaker 5: lot of people get lost in taking pictures or posting
Speaker 5: on social media. And I think this goes back to
Speaker 5: what you were saying about travel being different nowadays than
Speaker 5: what maybe we were used to growing up.
Speaker 4: Like when we were growing up, travel was.
Speaker 5: Something that you had to be fairly adventurous to do,
Speaker 5: you know, like you couldn't see pictures of everything. Like
Speaker 5: Lonely Planet is one of the things that I used
Speaker 5: so much growing up because it was a very useful tool.
Speaker 5: You had like a handful of hostels, a handful of restaurants,
Speaker 5: and numbers, you know, that list of.
Speaker 4: Like words and greetings.
Speaker 5: Whereas nowadays, I think a lot of people go to
Speaker 5: places because on social media that've seen like the cool
Speaker 5: places to see, the pictures you need to take, the
Speaker 5: viral meals you need to have, and people kind of
Speaker 5: get lost in that and they forget that there's you know,
Speaker 5: people around you, and there's more to it. Yeah, which
Speaker 5: is why I think maybe not everyone I don't want
Speaker 5: to say, knows how to travel, but you know, you
Speaker 5: can get lost in things that you're focusing on.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you can get really caught up in the moment.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: There's another example that I wanted to give was if
Speaker 1: you see some people, like there's some fetish petitiization of
Speaker 1: nonnas in our culture at the moment, and you know,
Speaker 1: older ladies or even you know, seeing nuns walking through
Speaker 1: you know, Rome, or you know, it's not okay just
Speaker 1: to take photos of these people, like you need to
Speaker 1: ask permission, you know.
Speaker 6: Absolutely, And I think, yeah, you're right.
Speaker 1: People just get caught up in the moment and by
Speaker 1: thinking oh, that's going to make a good picture for
Speaker 1: whatever reason, was probably going to sit on the computer
Speaker 1: for you know, on their phone forever.
Speaker 4: That is That is a really good point.
Speaker 5: And even like if there's someone like preparing food, so
Speaker 5: for the work I do, I do like to post
Speaker 5: stuff on social media about food.
Speaker 4: It's very related to what I do.
Speaker 5: But I always ask even just to film the food itself.
Speaker 4: I'm like you.
Speaker 5: If I'm in a store and I want to take
Speaker 5: like a video of like the beautiful cheese displayer place
Speaker 5: may have, or the food and badge, the first thing
Speaker 5: I do is do you mind if I film?
Speaker 6: Yes?
Speaker 5: And the sad thing is it's so surprise to most
Speaker 5: people that I asked, because most people don't and they
Speaker 5: just whip their phone out and they start filming.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 5: And so that's a perfect example of like a little
Speaker 5: kind of respectful thing that you can do that will
Speaker 5: make the person see you much more favorably because like,
Speaker 5: oh wow, this person actually like cares and you know,
Speaker 5: is asking for my permission. And so even if you're
Speaker 5: not filming people, it's a good practice to just be
Speaker 5: polite mask But as you say, especially if you want
Speaker 5: to take a picture of someone, you definitely have to
Speaker 5: ask them.
Speaker 4: I think it's.
Speaker 5: Sad that people think they can just stick a camera
Speaker 5: on someone's face and just like take pictures of record.
Speaker 4: And once again, we're all humans. Let's be nice to
Speaker 4: each other and respectful and like space.
Speaker 6: And image exactly. But the thing is, you do get
Speaker 6: caught up in the moment.
Speaker 1: It's so exciting, and if you're traveling soon you know,
Speaker 1: it couldn't be more thrilled for you. Because when you
Speaker 1: arrive there and you get to Rome, and you get
Speaker 1: to Italy and you step off the plane, something there's
Speaker 1: that energy and like Nazim said, you go for a walk,
Speaker 1: you smell the smells, you see the vibe of the place.
Speaker 6: It's just for me. It gives me so much energy.
Speaker 1: And like you said at the start, like imagine having
Speaker 1: that first experience and what that first experience is like,
Speaker 1: you know, to go back to that time when you
Speaker 1: just go, wow, this is like nowhere else I've ever
Speaker 1: been before.
Speaker 4: It's one of the absolute chows of travel.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it is. So that was so much fun.
Speaker 1: And you know, like as we said, for the most
Speaker 1: exciting part about landing in Italy, it's all about discovering
Speaker 1: new ways of doing things and that you might later
Speaker 1: adopt for yourself, or even better, you might discover something
Speaker 1: new about yourself and the way that you like to
Speaker 1: experience the world. And I don't think there's anything better
Speaker 1: than that.
Speaker 4: I agree, Well.
Speaker 1: You have a good time in Copenhagen, and maybe when
Speaker 1: you land back in Rome, you might just transport yourself
Speaker 1: to another place and just think, ah, this is what
Speaker 1: it's like, the contrast between the very ordered and you know,
Speaker 1: manicured Danish sensibilities versus the chaotic, craziness and beautiful chaos
Speaker 1: of Rome.
Speaker 5: No, absolutely, and I think it's one of the reasons
Speaker 5: why I enjoy Copenhagen so much. It's the perfect antithesis
Speaker 5: to room. Yeah, so, as you say, everything's like clean
Speaker 5: and early and play. Everyone's following all of the societal norms.
Speaker 5: No one you know, crosses on red lights, everyone respects
Speaker 5: everyone's like personal space, and so so it's a very
Speaker 5: nice change of place to hear. Coming back home, it's
Speaker 5: always I mean, home is home. It's always great to
Speaker 5: come back. But yeah, travel is great because it allows
Speaker 5: you to see so many different perspectives and see how
Speaker 5: people do things differently, and the foods they have and
Speaker 5: the ways they interact. And yeah, I think everyone to
Speaker 5: travel as much as they humanly can.
Speaker 4: And you should.
Speaker 5: Definitely make Italy part of your travels if you have
Speaker 5: or haven't already, because this is really a spectacular place.
Speaker 1: And if you really want to experience Rome with a local,
Speaker 1: definitely get on one of Nazim's food tours because I
Speaker 1: can tell you now how many people who've listened to
Speaker 1: this podcast have been on those tours that right to
Speaker 1: me and say was the best thing that they did.
Speaker 1: So groutsy Nizim as always for joining us, and yeah
Speaker 1: I have to see soon.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I really look for it, and thank you so much.
Speaker 5: It's always such a pleasure to be on the podcast
Speaker 5: with you.
Speaker 6: Gout chat.
Speaker 4: Tell everyone.
Speaker 1: Listeners it's always a pleasure to chat with Nazim. He
Speaker 1: is such a genuine and fun guy who has a
Speaker 1: passion for sharing his city, fire its food. As I
Speaker 1: mentioned before, we have quite the back catalog of recordings
Speaker 1: together and so you can find them easily. We'll list
Speaker 1: them all on the episode show notes over at untold
Speaker 1: Isaly dot com forward slash three hundred and thirty six
Speaker 1: for episode number three hundred and thirty six. As always,
Speaker 1: you'll find a full transcript of today's episode, including places
Speaker 1: and concepts mentioned there also. Now, before I sign off,
Speaker 1: something Nasim said to me today has stayed with me.
Speaker 3: He talked about the little.
Speaker 1: Song and dance that you do when you walk into
Speaker 1: a place for the first time in Rome or anywhere
Speaker 1: in Italy.
Speaker 3: Really you say saliver, not chiao.
Speaker 1: Wait till the third visit before you get familiar with
Speaker 1: your barista Sinka Batzier properly and Juana Janata on the
Speaker 1: way out.
Speaker 3: None of this is very hard, but you have to
Speaker 3: know it.
Speaker 1: Before you go, because you can't learn the feel of
Speaker 1: a place from a checklist of sights and experiences, and
Speaker 1: that's the whole point of getting into the vibe and
Speaker 1: starting to feel part of Italy. If you enjoyed today's show,
Speaker 1: please help support our work by subscribing or leaving a
Speaker 1: rating or review in your favorite podcast app that helps
Speaker 1: us reach more Italy loving travelers just like you. If
Speaker 1: you're joining us on YouTube and enjoyed today's show, we
Speaker 1: release new videos every week. Hit subscribe so you don't
Speaker 1: miss a thing. Next week on the Untold Italy Podcast,
Speaker 1: I'm going to share more about our philosophy on traveling
Speaker 1: in the twenty first century, but until then, it's chow
Speaker 1: for now. The Untold Italy Podcast is an independent production
Speaker 1: podcast editing, audio production and website development by Mark Hatter,
Speaker 1: Production assistance and content writing by the are they kt Clark, Yes,
Speaker 1: there are two of us. For more information about Untold Italy,
Speaker 1: please visit Untold Italy dot com.