Here are 12 things which have surprised us about Italy so far:

1. Even in bigger cities (like Bergamo or Milan), people often run into others they know on the street, and stop to kiss and chat for however long. B read online that people are generally on-time in Italy, but with this practice, I have no idea how that could possibly be true.
2. Most people seem to have a balcony of some sort. And the sum total of protection against falling out is pretty much caveat emptor.
3. Like France, most of Italy closes for at least a portion of August. Stores and cafes that don’t – even in super touristy areas – are still rare enough that they put up an ‘Open for all of August’ sign in their windows.
4. Meals here are quite different from the US. Breakfast is coffee or tea and a pastry. Eggs, yogurt, oatmeal, and anything savory or in large volume confuses them. Lunch is a leisurely meal of some substance, between noon and two in the afternoon. After two pm, attempts at securing food until seven pm are futile. Even in tourist areas, the odds of a cafe or restaurant serving anything other than gelato in that window are slim to none; most of them aren’t even open. On the other hand, starting dinner at ten pm is perfectly normal.
5. They also have strict ideas of what constitutes appropriate eating and drinking habits. For example, coffee can be served at breakfast, in the afternoon between lunch and dinner (by itself), or after dinner; no coffee with a meal. And especially not cappuccino, which is only for breakfast!
6. And many of the foods we can ‘Italian’ – just like with other cultures – aren’t really Italian. For example, Italians don’t understand the concept of pasta ‘Alfredo,’ since that’s just a guy’s name. Whose pasta do you want, they wonder?
7. Their happy hour is called ‘aperitivo,’ and it usually includes snacks like olives and salty tapas. When they have snacks, they tend to be buffet-style, and there’s a decent number of them. This explains how Italians can wait to eat dinner until ten pm.
8. When it says ‘bar’ on something, it is likely to be a group of vending machines.
9. They seem to be doing okay profiting on tourism: there is a ‘coperto’ per-person charge in many non-locals restaurants and a hotel per-person fee.
10. There are not that many trash cans out, all things considered.
11. The buses tend to be more clearly labeled than in the US. Bus stops show schedules and each stop on the route. Buses announce the next stop in comprehensible Italian – and in English, even in cities like Genoa, with fewer English-speaking tourists.
12. Gelato is not just for foreign tourists: it is also for Italian tourists.