Italy is a magical place that will change you forever

Italy is a land full of pasta, pizza, crazy drivers and even crazier hand motions. Despite how bizarre it may all seem initially, it is the most magical place on earth and here’s why.

Italians live to eat – and everyone knows how to cook

Work and school both stop for lunch at noon because Italians have their priorities straight. Even the men learn how to prepare their favorite dishes (hello, ladies). Everyone is obsessed with fresh ingredients and everything is healthier. A plate of pasta in Italy is not the same as a plate of pasta in the United States and will certainly not do the same thing to your waistline.

Everything is fresh, which means it also tastes better

Going to the market is a daily occurrence.

It’s so beautiful that time stands still. Literally

There are clocktowers everywhere but no one seems to pay them any mind. Except for the fact that everything comes to a halt at noon for lunch, there is no sense of time at all. Meeting someone ‘around 4pm’ means you may see them before midnight if you’re lucky.

Seriously, everything closes down for lunch – and it should

At first when I realized I couldn’t hit up the local convenience store between noon and 2pm, panic set in. Who knows what one might need during those hours? I knew only that I could run out of shampoo at any moment. But after awhile, I welcomed the opportunity to shun my American materialism for two hours a day and catch up on some reading, take a twenty minute nap or even just digest my food for the first time in five years. This is the life.

It is socially acceptable to eat gelato once or twice a day

It’s also the go-to date. And the selection is on point.

People give out compliments on the street

I’m just trying to hit up the local market and some guy feels the need to tell me I’m the most beautiful girl he’s seen in his life. Sure, he may also say it to the old lady behind the cheese counter, but that’s okay. Everyone deserves to feel beautiful.

It is socially acceptable to be late to everything

No one gives you a hard time because they are too busy eating gelato and feeling beautiful to care.

Like all magical lands, it has its share of nonsense

Italy wasn’t exactly built on a grid. So, yeah, directions get a little jumbled. And sure, it would be nice to know where you’re going, but most of the time it doesn’t really matter anyway – if you don’t make it to a dinner date until the next morning, you’re still pretty much on time. Or maybe you’re meant to get lost and find yourself. Who’s read Eat Pray Love?

Italians take tradition very seriously

Like the horse races known as the Palio in Siena, where each of the seventeen neighborhoods in the city nurtures a horse for the event and grown men have been known to cry when their teams lose.

If a husband and wife are from different neighborhoods, they eat dinner separately for the week leading up to the race. While a visitor like myself may not get so emotionally invested in the actual race, I still had a cool time posing with one of the neighborhood flags.

There are also other keys tradition which are less famous, like the occasional game of wizard’s chess in the town square. Just kidding – I don’t actually know what this is, but it happened.

And yeah, there are castles

You’ll get used to seeing them everywhere.

Diversity? It exists, geographically speaking

Walt Whitman once said: “I am large, I contain multitudes.” And while he claims he was talking about himself, I’m pretty sure he was talking about Italy. In one country, you’ve got the perfect ski slopes in the Alps, the rolling hills and plains of Tuscany and the breathtaking Amalfi coast.

Italians are really in touch with their emotions

“I want all the love and affection that only you can give me, but I want indifference if you ever decide to hurt me.” Wow. So vulnerable. Who says things like that? I’ll tell you who. Italian singer-songwriter Tiziano Ferro, that’s who.

Once you go, you’ll always want to go back

If that’s not a spell, I don’t know what is.