Practical Information

A Day in the Life

The Italians are charming intelligent people to whom Europe owes a great cultural debt. With their ever-present flexibility (arrangiarsi), they are able to communicate with a wide variety of people and to adapt to situations that change continuously. While their persuasiveness may often produce an adverse reaction with more reserved people such as Germans, Scandinavians, Dutch and Britons, they may gain much by adapting to the Italians’ outgoing nature, meeting them halfway in their taste for dialogue. Italy is a heavy exporter, which means much of the world may find themselves “doing business with” the Italians.

If you want to do business with an Italian, or maybe just become better acquainted, you may want to consider these “informal guidelines”:

• Italians like to share details of families, hopes, holidays, aspirations, disappointments, preferences, etc. Show pictures of your children, reveal some of your political or religious opinions: discuss beliefs and values.


• Italians do not have an over-inflated sense of nationalism, but are interested in their own region and city. They like their regional products (food!) and are eager to talk about it.


• Their communication style is demonstrative and emotional. This is normal, but may be too much for some. Do not mistake waving arms and talking hands for instability or unreliability. They often think that other cultures, by contrast, are rather wooden and distant. Make them feel comfortable by showing more facial expression and body language.


• Italians sometimes have a different concept of time. Punctuality in Milan means they are 20 minutes late, in Rome 30 minutes and in the south 45 minutes. It is difficult to change this, except in a fixed-hour factory or office environment, so plan to adapt.


• In Italy, dinnertime is important. It’s the time to talk, to enjoy food and…to do business!


• Italian flexibility in business often leads people to think they are “dishonest”: they frequently bend rules, break or “get around” some laws and put a very flexible interpretation on certain agreements and regulations. Business is conducted this way and you may well be able to benefit from this “flexibility”. They do not consider their approach to be in any way corrupt, immoral or misleading. If you stick to the letter of the law, they will go on without you. (Of course, we are not talking about clear illegalities!) The reason for this is that Italians do not consider the government to be their “caretaker”. Your own region, city, family and friends are the most important points of reference for your decisions on how to deal with life matters.


• Arrangiarsi, Italian for flexibility, improvisation and creativity, may mean that Italians do not follow agendas as strictly as others do. They will jump ahead or return to points you think have already been settled. Often several people will speak at once, and you may find two or three more micro-meetings going on simultaneously. They can change their plans for the day, according to necessity. This is not necessarily negative. Do not forget that Italy is one of the most industrialized nations in the world.


• Very often Italians are much more polite, on the surface, compared to their northern European relatives. Fare bella figura, to make a favourable impression, is extremely important to Italians. The famous Italian wordiness is not always understood by direct speaking cultures, but is quite charming.


• The Italian society places a strong emphasis on position. In business, you may meet managers who portray themselves as the “big boss”. In everyday life, people tend to emphasize their position as a police officer, doctor, professor, director, etc. Personal contact with people in key positions is therefore important if you want to get things done.


• Personal contacts remain extremely important to make things work. Italians do not easily answer emails from people they do not know. However, when they do know you better, they feel quite comfortable in sharing their time and property with you and you with them.