Found this on examiner.com. I love this comment because this is exactly how I felt eating gelato in Florence - only difference was the flavor I had was stracciatella.
"You know you are in Italy when you find pink grapefruit gelato on a really hot day and experience the great delight of eating the dripping confection on a street corner and feeling like you have discovered one of life’s great truths."
I've only visited Italy, France and Switzerland in Europe while my cousin did the rest and my sister England - a country she absolutely adored. Same with my cousin. So much so he lived in Scotland for two years. Me? I thoroughly enjoy the French.
However, nothing, and I mean nothing, is quite like Italy and that's a bold statement giving the great countries and cultures Europe possesses and graces the world with.
Still, culling our opinions of Italy over the years, we can honestly say that Italy is truly a country onto itself. No one, for better or worse, acts, thinks, behaves, eats, laughs, argues, insults, cries, play soccer, make cars, whatever, quite like the Italians. Geographically too, Italy finds itself in a special place. Protruding out into the Mediterranean with an exquisite and varied climate, it was perfectly placed to be a major trader linking the the brilliance of the East with Western Europe. This accorded Italy a chance to take its place as a leader in Western civilization at different moments and intervals in history .
We're not alone in feeling this way. The list of historical figures - through letters, personal diaries, poems, political statements etc. - who have been overwhelmed by her beauty (landscape, architecture and people) and ugliness (mafia, architecture and people) is staggering. Very few people leave Italy without an opinion. Even people who never talk suddenly open up with an opinion.
The polarizing extremes of both beauty and ugliness leaves you no choice but to speak out!
Because Italy is more than a geographic expression..
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