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Italy seen from the outside. The worst stereotypes on our country

I lived thirty years abroad, more than half my life. I am a glocal citizen: not very global, so local. I am attached to my origins - the marvelous strip of land between Bologna and Imola, the legendary Via Emilia -, but I obtained an MBA with Honors at Harvard Business School in Boston and then I worked in Europe, United States, Latin America and Asia .

Even today I divide between Emilia Romagna, Boston, Bangkok, Munich and Hong Kong. I have always interfaced with foreigners and I have never been "an Italian abroad" in the traditional sense.
In international jargon it is said: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do". For my part, I did it not only in the Eternal City, when I worked with Professor Romano Prodi, then president of IRI, but I authentically interpreted the expression wherever I was. I lived abroad with the locals, that is, with those who in my eyes could have seemed like "foreigners". The work then pushed me to document myself, to relate with different styles, apparently disconcerting habits, and ultimately to deal with those who, from their own territory, could judge me and my country of origin. I therefore believe I can offer a reasoned picture on the perception of Italy abroad, and this book is the fruit of a reflection imbued with skills and knowledge in this regard. It is a baggage of notions linked by a thread of conclusive ideas and not preconceived. There are evaluations that go beyond the statistical surveys, which, although often valid, are sometimes insufficient and others even misleading. If it were not so, Italian museums would be the most visited in the world, the ruins of Pompeii the safest and the historic centers of our cities the best equipped. Men prefer blondes, play the title of an old movie, but then marry blackberries. Italy is perceived as the largest cultural reservoir in the world, but then tourists, intellectuals and scholars prefer France. That said, I confirm what we often say at home, and that we are a very envied people.

Abroad, the Italian lifestyle is taken as a model; most foreigners think that we work little, we have great food and beautiful beaches. This is the classic stereotype: "In Italy they live well, in fact, all too well!" The German's fury against us is due precisely to this vision. We are rich for them, we work little and, last but not least, we do not pay taxes! In fact there is some truth: we are objectively the most beautiful country in the world, with unparalleled natural attractions.

Yes, many envy us: the Japanese are rich but they live like sardines, many Chinese are rich but they breathe a totally polluted air and the rich part of the Americans lives in anonymous cities. In short, everyone would like to live in Italy.

There is a real fatal attraction for our country, but it is superficial. Foreigners think we live better than it actually is. In the world, the image of Italian is that of commercials: for example, a boy sitting drinking a glass of wine with his girlfriend in the center of Todi, not the Milanese from Quarto Oggiaro; or, charming girls walking in Rome on Via dei Condotti, not in Centocelle.

So, when some stranger decides to move here, he discovers the bitter and harsh truth. Italy is not that dreamed paradise that she had imagined, and when she starts working and her children enter our schools, her feeling goes from love to hatred. I hate our terrifying bureaucracy, the disservices of our public school and many other aspects of everyday life.

What we need to eradicate from our mind is the idea that all foreigners can not wait to be like us: it's not like that! We Italians are not, and above all we are not considered the navel of the world. Where does this belief come from? From the fact that we exchange dreams with reality. We like to think that all Italians attend fabulous universities, visit beautiful museums, play instruments, dress Armani, read the Financial Times, eat homemade tagliatelle every day and drink the best wines bought at an affordable price, walk in immaculate historic centers, savor the best coffee and, of course, are used in rewarding sectors such as fashion design. And we also like to think that others, foreigners who judge us, are condemned by the inclement weather and the greyness of the factories of their countries. We are convinced that, as soon as they can, they come to Italy to enjoy the sun and the beaches, to eat pasta al dente, to have fun with the young people in the discos of the Riviera.

This idea, in decline but lasts to die, is profoundly wrong, counterproductive