Introduction
The Italian lifestyle is as close to la dolce vita or the sweet life as you can get. It is what attracts millions of visitors from around the world each year. Warm and welcoming, Italians are passionate about almost everything. Whether it is cooking, art, music, sports or just conversation, Italians reveal their passionate nature. Italians are not shy or boring people. In Italy, conversazione is an art form. When they talk it is animated and intense, on almost every subject.
Shaped like a boot, Italy stretches south from the Alps mountain range in the north to the Mediterranean Sea in the south, over 700 miles in length. Bordered in the north by Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland and France, the Italian peninsula is over 200 miles wide. Italy’s long coastline touches the Tyrrhenian and Ligurian Seas to its west, the Adriatic and Ionian Seas to its east and the Mediterranean Sea to its south.
The country is slightly larger than Arizona, which makes it the seventy-second largest country by area in the world. Italy’s 116,334 square mile land area also includes Sardinia and Sicily, the two largest islands in the Mediterranean. The tiny sovereign states of Vatican City and San Marino also reside within Italy’s borders.
Italians are passionate about life, no matter what they are doing. They squeeze the pleasure out of life, unhurriedly, one drop at a time. And to Italians, life revolves around family and friends. Whether at home, in the piazza or on the beach, the social connection is their lifeblood. Sharing your life with friends and family is amore.
To Italians, food is life and life is celebrated with always the freshest ingredients, no matter how humble the home. Every meal is savored to the fullest. In Italy they say: “A tavola non s’invecchi mai.” Translation: “You never grow old at the table.”
