Observations in no particular order

I have only seen 2 Italians wearing a hat – and they were at the beach. I have only seen 1 shop selling hats – and that was at the beach.

In the places I have been, there have been as many groups of Italian tourists as every other group.

I have yet to see a grey haired Italian woman in her 50s or 60s although the lady at the hotel in Urbino ( umbrella man’s wife) said it was changing and becoming more acceptable to have grey hair.

There is a thing called caffe d’orzo quite often on menus – made of barley. Fancy , Italians drinking Eco (?spelling). I have seen 2 shops selling only teas and teapots etc

Zebra crossings seem to be just white lines painted on the street, although a police car did stop for me once. I don’t remember seeing them in the south – zebra crossings I mean, not police cars – we saw plenty of them.

Getting across roundabouts on foot is a challenge.

4 Years ago in the south, everyone second or third person who was out in the evening for a stroll – passegiata – would be licking a gelato. I am fairly sure that the only people I have seen wandering licking icecream are tourists.

Wandering around the streets last Sunday I heard several elderly local people wishing each other ‘Buon domenica’ – Good Sunday.

Italian TV has not improved. I have seen dubbed Nanny, dubbed Inspector Rex ( more than once per week) , several old dubbed Tom Cruise movies, several dubbed American daytime soaps , many inane game shows that make no sense whatsoever to me.

In both Ravenna and Mantova ( flat cities) many people ride around on bikes. So far I have not seen any helmets. In Ravenna on Sunday, there were many families out for a ride. No helmets. I have seen many people in their 70s at least and well dressed women wearing stilettos – though it is probably easier for them to ride than walk on the cobble stones of Mantova.

In Ravenna there were several places from where you could borrow a bike for free.
There was a building where for €1.5 you could park your bike for the day. There was an attendant..

I have seen a rental DVD dispenser in the wall of shop – maybe they exist in Australian cities, I don’t wander around them

On the trains I have seen twice a young man come along and put a piece of paper on the seat next to you saying he has no job, 3 sisters, no parents etc, please give money and God will reward you. A few minutes later he comes back, collecting the piece of paper with his hand outstretched.

I saw a sign for a concert of South American salsa dancers. The presenter was a man named Andrea Damonte and he was described as ‘ il ginecologa della salsa’. The only translation my dictionary has for gineecologa is the obvious one. The mind boggles.