Hi Ivan,
Ooh – you must be excited for your trip! For a way to get some local hospitality, you might want to look into doing a hospitality exchange (couch surfing). Here’s some more info on that:
https://www.theprofessionalhobo.com/the-creative-guide-to-free-or-cheap-accommodation/

And if you have a home that needs some care in your absence, you could look into doing a home exchange:
https://www.theprofessionalhobo.com/the-creative-guide-to-free-or-cheap-accommodation/

And if you’d like a local meal (which in Italy is a must), you can try a program like this:
https://www.theprofessionalhobo.com/how-to-travel-on-a-budget/

Hope this helps!

Cheers
Ivan

Hi Valerie,
Amen! Since staying with this family, I can’t look at Italian restaurants the same way. I’m ruined! 😉

Hey Fab,
Totally makes sense. Thanks for the explanation!

Hey Nora,

generally speaking, Italian men focus on dressing well which means buying expensive Italian brand clothes and shoes to look good and because of the fact that most of them never exericise or play sports and so they are a bit( or quite, it depends on the cases!! ) overweight, they can’t focus on looking good by definition!!

To sum up, in general they focus on dressing well to look good but they can’t focus on looking good because most of them are out of shape!!

And so the real question is this:

why, generally speaking, do they focus on dressing well to look good?

Because Italian women like that kind of men!! And Why? Because Italian women are much more focused ( in some cases literally obsessed!! ) on dressing well and looking good!!

In other words, like attracts like!!
Partially, it also depends on a particular Italian concept “Fare Bella Figura”, if you feel like reading “A good Field Guide to the Italian Mind” here is the book:

http://www.amazon.it/La-Bella-Figura-Field-Italian/dp/0767914406

Ciao! Fab

Hi Guy,
Getting those truly local experiences are priceless in my mind….and it’s ultimately why I travel.
The song is….well you’ll hear it. It’s ridiculous, but funny.
And I’m not nearly that discriminating about songs – if the tune is good I’ll dance to it, even if it’s in another language. I guess I’m the Anglo version of my Italian compadres that night! Ha ha!

Hey Fab,
Do you mean that Italian men don’t generally focus on dressing well and looking good? I had heard this stereotype years ago….is it not true?

Thanks, Ed! I think home-cooked food is always better than the restaurant version; it contains a secret ingredient that most chefs can’t quite replicate en masse: LOVE! 😉

As for that song, I’ve never heard of it before. I may well be researching on YouTube tonight. I think it also sums up why I like our chart songs to be in English so I can understand it. If a song is in a language I don’t understand I feel very uncomfortable saying I like it or dance to it because I really don’t know what it is.