23 Fascinating Facts about Italy That Will Make You Want to Visit This Beautiful Country
Sunny Italy is not only about pizza and pasta (although the country produces 4 million tons of pasta a year). Young Italians like to live with their parents, and in one town, wine flows from a fountain. Discover a handful of intriguing tidbits that will encourage you to visit the boot-shaped country.
#1 Unlucky Number
For Italians the unlucky number is 17. In some hotels, having a superstitious owner, even the room marked with this number is omitted. And the airline Alitalia does not have a row of seats with the number 13 and the unlucky for Italians number 17…
#2 The Pope's Throne in Italian Hands
From 1523 to 1978, all the popes came from Italy.
#3 Under One Roof with Parents
Bamboccioni are people over the age of 30 who still live with their parents. The economic crisis has exacerbated this phenomenon and one in three Italians chooses to stay in the family home.
#4 The Wolf and the Oak
Italians consider the wolf to be their national animal and the olive tree and oak to be their national plant.
#5 Unlucky Umbrellas
Opening an umbrella in a room is unlucky, while accidentally spilling wine is a lucky sign.
#6 Unnecessary letters
The letters j, k, w, x and y are hardly used in Italian. They are only used for borrowed words.
#7 A child after 30
Statistically, Italian women give birth to their first child at around 30.3 years of age.
#8 A Dismembered Galileo
A tooth and the middle finger of Galileo's right hand and thumb are on display in a Florence museum. They were severed from the astronomer's body in 1737 and were a keepsake in the family of a marquis. The fingers and tooth were only found in 2009.
#9 You Can't Eat Everywhere
Eating and drinking in the courtyard of churches and on the steps of temples, is punishable by a fine.
#10 Riches in the Fountain
Every day into the Trevi fountain is thrown approx. 3000 EUROS.
#11 A City Full of Bridges
There are 417 bridges in Venice. 72 of them are in private hands.
#12 Favorite Vowels
Almost every Italian word ends in a vowel: a, e, i, o, u (except loanwords).
#13 Italian Blacksmith
Rossi is the most common Italian surname. It is carried by about 46 thousand families. It is a kind of Italian Kowalski.
#14 It's Not an Argument
Two people who gesture vigorously with their hands and speak loudly do not have to quarrel at all. Italians are a very expressive people and they don't mind that their conversation can be heard in the next street.
#15 Love Coffee
The average Italian drinks 8 coffees a day. You must know that cappuccino and latte are not considered coffee, but coffee drinks.
#16 A Nation of Inventors
The organ, barometer, ice cream cones, glasses, piano, coffee maker, telephone, violin or batteries were invented in Italy.
#17 The Obligatory Walk
Before dinner most Italians go for a walk called passeggiata.
#18 The Calf Country
The name of the country comes from the word italia, which means calf land.
#19 Offensive Gestures
The most offensive gesture is the simultaneous showing of the little finger and the index finger. This symbolizes the wife's tooting her horns at the man, i.e. infidelity.
#20 Permitted Alcohol
The driver is allowed to have 0,5 per mille of alcohol in his blood.
#21 New Year's Eve Sausage
New Year's Eve is traditionally eaten with cotechino sausage made of pork meat, bacon and skin. It is eaten cut into small rings. The meat is accompanied by lentils, which are supposed to symbolize money.
# 22 Star City
Palmanova is a Renaissance city in the province of Udine (northern Italy) that was built on the plan of a nine-pointed star.
# 23 Fountain Full of Wine
In the town of Caldari di Ortona (central Italy) there is a fountain from which red wine flows instead of water. To pour yourself a drink, you only need to turn on the faucet.
Did you know about any of these facts?
