Reviews of Italy

If this summer you feel the urge to find a sunnier climate in which to thaw out after a bitterly cold winter, then you may consider some of the countries around the Mediterranean sea, such as Italy. And it is not a bad choice, I may say! I worked in Italy for a month last summer, my first overseas job during the summer vacations. OK so 4 weeks is not a long time but even if you visit this country for 1 day then you will realise that there is something completely magical about it. Let me walk you through the experiences I had and the things that I learned and see if I cannot persuade you to visit this wonderful country.

Firstly, the climate! I am a blue-blooded Brit with skin whiter than snow, well adapted to the subzero temperatures, the biting winds and icy rain that frequents most of my gloriously grey country. I am a cynical being and believed that on arriving in Italy I would have brought the British weather with me, so "just in case" I packed several huge jumpers, jackets and thick trousers and my black boots alongside my sandals, vest tops, shorts and swim suit! This extra luggage only added extra weight to my suitcase as it was never used! Italy has glorious temperatures, which I am told do not dip below 15 degrees celsius in the WINTER! So I left 15 degrees in mid July to land in sweltering 25 degrees at 8 o clock at night. The temperatures in Italy do fall a bit at night but not by much, as they held at about 25 degrees during my stay. I had arrived in time to miss the African heat wave that had taken the daytime temperatures in the scorching 30s, however I still had trouble dealing with the heat whilst dressing appropriately.

Foreigners stand out to Italians, particularly Italian men. In fact they have a sixth sense for our paler skins and blue eyes and our more "graceful" postures, and that makes us a target when travelling or moving alone. They will muster up their best broken english with which to woo us. But dont be flattered. Their perception of foreign women are that they are easier to conquer, so get your shields up if you are travelling alone. Fake wedding bands and light cotton shirts with featherweight sarongs are the best armour. Try not to unveil too much flesh or they will be buzzing around you like bees to the honeycomb.

That word of warning aside, you may find that these awestruck men are the only ones who are willing or able to speak english depending on where exactly you are in the country. Wealth and poverty divide this country, as in the north of the country there is more industry and subsequent jobs and a richer and more educated life style. However the further south you go there are less industries and jobs and higher unemployment. This can be used to the tourists advantage, as staying in the south is much much cheaper than staying in the north, as the tourist industry is not as developed. Price differences in places such as Milan are much much higher than they are in southern cities such as Reggio Calabria. If you are seeking employment you have better chances to find it in the north, and no doubt you will find more people speak english here. I worked for a family and the parents were both english teachers employing me with the main aim of improving their spoken english, so I had a door into Italian society. If, however, I had gone alone my little Italian would not have got me far. I stayed in the south, in a region called Calabria. Due to the comparative lack of industry more of the Italian countryside had been left untouched and there were roaming forests around hills of fields providing breathtaking scenery. In the summer the sheer heat of the sun caused a lot of forest fires to become started very easily, and the sight of a helicopter towing a huge barrel of water by metal ropes through the sky to the sea was a very common one. Italy generally has more natural countryside and forestry than Britain, with a lot of it being moored on mountains. These mountains are usually the homes to some of the countrys best National Parks. I visited the Silan Mountains near Cosenza, and again the scenery was absolutely out of this world. However I found it suffocatingly hot as it was away from the sea which I found to be generally cooler. A good tip for the traveller is not to drink tap water. No Italian family does, as it is not thought to be clean. In the supermarkets of Calabria 2 litre bottles of water cost the equivalent of 20p as this product is in such high demand, but the visitor will notice families with crates of empty water bottles filling them at natural springs that come from stalls in the street or from the mountainside itself.

If you visit Italy remember that Italians drive on the right hand side of the road, but be even more alert because many Italian drivers drive as though they are trying out for a Formula One team! Be particularly aware at hill tops, tight corners and bends in the roads. Also beware of scooter riders, as they can drive quite dangerously at times. And for noveltys sake, keep an eye out for the tiny tiny cars you are allowed to drive in Italy without a license. They are compact like Smart cars, but are even more compact and are so dinky you may have to whip out your camera and bemuse the driver by taking a pic just so your friends will believe you back at home when you tell them how small these cars are!

There is one thing any visitor will notice even if they cannot speak a word of the Italian language, and that is the Italian working day. These guys start at 9, and stop for lunch between 12 or 1 depending on the nature of the business. Nearly all the shops shut for lunch. Italians take their lunch time seriously because they do not open again until 4 or 5 in the afternoon! This allows them a few hours to go home and gather the family, before preparing and consuming a huge 3 course lunch. The first course nearly always consists of the Italian favourite, a pasta dish, and the second course will consist of a meat with some vegetables. The pasta portions are large whilst the 2nd course is usually comparatively smaller. After this fruit or bread is served with the chance to drink lots of wine or water. The meal itself can take an hour to eat, and then it is meticulously cleared away. In order to accommodate this, a major event of the day, schools start at around 8 and finish for the day when business adjourns for lunch. During the year businesses may be open for another few hours until 6 or so, but in the summer trading hours are lengthened to about 8 or 9pm! Dinner, if youre still hungry, is served at 9 or 10pm at night, but is usually a shorter affair. The Italians laid back lifestyle is something you should take into account when planning your day, as you will not be able to shop ior even go to the bar during the long lunch hour. Also, when planning a trip to Italy, you must take into account that families take long holidays away from work, and as most businesses, particularly in the south, are family run then you may find that most stores are closed for June and July. When I visited Lamezia at the beginning of July, the streets were deadly quiet and vacant!

If you go visit Italy you must go shopping particularly to pick up some authentic european fashion! Any visitor MUST check out the clothes shops when they visit Italy because they do sell divine clothes! I found that the prices were generally quite high in comparison to the low prices of other goods within the region.

Prices remain low if you want to eat out. I would recommend visiting some of the pizzerias in the towns, and some of the gelaterias because Italians have a wide divergent peculiar taste in ice creams! I gained around half a stone from stuffing my face with Nutella ice cream! In other towns there were treasures such as onion ice cream! YACK!

Italy is known to be a very religious country, very Roman Catholic. The religious influence was clear, as I was told there were 28 churches alone in the small town of Vibo Valentia where I stayed. The town had a patron saint and there were shrines in the streets to which even the children prayed when they were playing. The churches are majestic and are well cared for, and the religious influence on life can only have a good effect. I never got to go to a Catholic ceremony as I had hoped, but I intend to visit again one day and do so.

Visit the beaches. You will not believe how beautifully clean and unspoilt a lot of these roaming beaches are. The sand is soft and hot running between your toes, and the sea is as warm as bath water. On the beaches of Calabria, on the Golfo di San Eufemia, the seawater is so clean that fishes swim in ankle-deep water! If you go into the seas, you MUST buy a diving mask and some flippers so that you can truly explore the crystal clear water or you will completely miss out. But beware of jellyfish! They sting! And they are EVERYWHERE during the summer, even at the waters edge. One great thing I noticed is that the majority of camp sites are at the sea edge - literally on the coast itself, and the sites provide you with electricity to your tent and a range of social activities such as beach bars, miniature football fields and lots more. A great place for you to check out with detailed information about campsites in Italy is the website http://www.camping.it. In addition to site details, they tell you if the site owners can speak english, services, prices and how to contact them. Camping sites often provide villas too so check this site out!

Italy is easy to reach, with airports in many different cities around Italy. There are well known ones such as Rome, Florence and Milan, but if you are flying from Britain you may like to check out the low cost airline Ryanair on http://www.ryanair.com as I have noticed that this airline flies to more Italian cities than any other for a very good price! They often have special deals so look out for them. To get to Calabria the best airport to fly to is Lamezia Terme. Try to avoid getting intercountry flights if you can only fly so far, as I was told that Alitalia has the monopoly on these flights and they are very expensive. I got a ticket with Ryanair for 70 pounds before tax to Lamezia from Stansted, but Alitalia quoted me from London to Lamezia being over 900 pounds! I thought, maybe the fact that its a split Italian/English website allowed a cockup to occur in converting prices to pounds sterling, but BA quoted £500 just to get to Milan. Shop around!

The train service in Italy is a good service! Like France, you can pay more for a train of the British equivalent to GNER fast trains, but you must book and pay 2 days in advance. The regional trains are lower priced, but they are not stuffy or cramped - they are in fact airy fast and comfortable with windows you can wheel down. The train tickets are incredibly cheap in Calabria, as I travelled from Lamezia to Tropea and back for the equivalent of 4 pounds, covering a 100 mile round trip! The trains seemed reliable and all the ones I took turned up on time. But beware! You MUST stamp your ticket before you get on the train in a little yellow box attached to the walls of most platforms of each train station, otherwise you may find yourself in trouble with the conductor. Stamp it once only too!

Finally, if any young couples decide to visit Calabria be sure to check out Tropea, a very popular and beautiful seaside town with lots of tourist streets, restaurants, bars and gelaterias. The main street leads down to a spot with a breathtaking view overlooking the ocean where I was told couples go to declare their undying love....