These Italians are crazy 8th novembre 2011

One of the clearest examples of differences between Italian and British/English cultures was demonstrated to me this morning. One of my team described her weekend. She had been to a "sagra" which is one of the many local food festivals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagra_(festival)
They are always local, village-based, and always based around a type of food - mushrooms, pasta, seasonal vegetables, chestnuts, cheese, olive oil, truffles etc. They are usually used to raise money for a local organisation, sports club or the like, although at this time they can be used just to fund the survival of the village. At this moment in time I would highly recommend that Berlusconi gets on the case and gets some sagras on the go as the country is racking forward and backwards. In fact, my team have even said that they would go out for a drink when Berlusconi resigns - and that really is a blue moon, or even rarer.
You have to love him though:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15642201
That is when you're not wondering how the Italians still let him get away with it.
e.g.
Scandals over his private life

Mr Berlusconi - caught in a series of scandals over his private life, including his alleged dealings with younger women and prostitutes - has frequently turned to a pithy phrase in an attempt to shrug off the allegations.

For instance, in April 2011, he said: "When asked if they would like to have sex with me, 30% of women said, 'Yes', while the other 70% replied, 'What, again?'"

At the end of the previous year, as allegations swirled about escorts and "Bunga, bunga" parties, the PM deadpanned the line: "I unfortunately have never in my life been to a wild party."

However, the talk of scandal has got under his collar at times.

He told Il Giornale newspaper in an interview on 12 August 2009 that he had nothing to apologise for and no skeletons in his cupboard: "I deserve to be left in peace: enough violations of privacy."

Questioned on the sex allegations in late July, Mr Berlusconi admitted: "I am not a saint, you've all understood that."

In an earlier interview with gossip magazine Chi, Mr Berlusconi denied he pays for sex, adding: "I never understood where the satisfaction is when you're missing the pleasure of conquest."

More bluntly, in November 2010 Mr Berlusconi hit out with the following: "It's better to like beautiful girls than to be gay."

And then of course there was the classic quote he made a couple of months ago. Well, it wasn't a quote really - in Italy it appears to be fine to tap people's phones, and as part of one of the many court cases that he is facing, there are some transcripts of his phone calls. On one he was quoted as saying "e una culona inchiavabile" - "she is an unf@£kable fat@ss". Not only was that what she said, but the term "inchiavabile" is particularly brutal - "chiave" means "key" so it is a rough and ready phrase sort of meaning unscrewable in a lewd way. Classic Berlusconi.

However, back to my point. My colleague was describing her weekend visiting the sagra di carciofi (artichoke festival). She said that she was wandering around, listening to music, and then burst out into incredulous laughter when she said that at 4pm she was eating artichokes. She was incredulous that she could have been eating at this time. To Italians to eat at the wrong time of day is the craziest thing. This really does bring out the differences between Italian and, well I will say English, approaches to eating. For the Italians, the very idea of eating outside of the appointed meal times is inconceivable to them. I guess this helps to explain why even though they appear to eat a shed load they do not seem to get fat. They only eat at appointed times and don't have any conception of snacking outside of those times. I think this helps them maintain their weight, along with eating with the family.
Although I have picked up several Italian habits, this is one of those that is resolutely not being accommodated.
Pasta n out!