I was in Italy a year ago and 99% of the locals were very friendly. Has anyone encountered any “attitude” change toward Americans lately? We always have dressed properly…attempted to speak a little of the language and not acted like the “Ugly American” keeping a low profile. Any encounters to share?

I haven't been to Italy yet this year, but I very much doubt that you will find "attitude" there. Most Italians (you mentioned 99%...) are quite capable of distinguishing between the current administration's policies, with which they may not agree, and individual Americans.

As for the other 1%, it's quite conceivable that you simply caught them on a grumpy day.

Incidentally, might referring to Italians as "the locals" not be a wee bit condescending?

The Italians seem to change their attitude infequently being a country that has been inhabited for 2000 years and has been invaded by everyone. They don't seem to get caught up in the news like in the US.

Eloise, actually we are locals, compared to foreigners who come from elsewhere. In this sense, Angie, who is of American nationality, is as local as I am, but she is also local to the US, while I am the foreigner there. (In other words, use the word "locals" as much sa you want, we don't mind!)

I use the term 'locals' when referring to me and my friends here in Austin! Never thought of it as offensive in any way. In my usage, I mean it to indicate people who live in a given place, whether native-born or otherwise.

Alice and Sally, It must be the 'Anglo' influence that still lingers in the usage here in Canada. To me, "the locals" smacks a little of the British colonial attitude, and I don't think I'd even refer to the residents of a particular small town close to Montreal as "the locals."

one thing i know for sure after traveling to italy for many years is that people are just people.... more alike than not. if anything, the italians that i have interacted with have been gracious, friendly, and have gone out of their way to assist me when i needed it.

from my first trip more than ten years ago when i relied constantly on the assistance of italians for driving directions, translation, and how to fit into their culture... until now when they treat me as a "local", i can honestly say their attitude has been one of genuine friendship.

not to say that we don't have lively discussions about everything from politics, religion, and sex... all those forbidden topics that make for great dinnertable discussion - i find that italians are always ready for a debate, but i have yet to encounter negative behavior towards americans.

i've experienced some rude behaviors from waiters but, most of the time, they turn out to be non-italians!

I've never run into any personalized attitude about being American. Friends will sometimes bring up politics, people I don't know never bring it up.

My daughter was going to school in Florence for one semester during and for several months after the initial U.S. invasion of Iraq a few years back; being young, clearly not Italian (shes multi-ethnic) and hanging around students, she ran into a lot of anti-America attitude, but not anti-American. Italians can distinguish that, a quality we should learn.

By the way, just as Americans are all over the political spectrum, so are Italians. I actually run into a significant number of people who lower their voices and then tell me they support the Bush policies, but they keep those attitudes close to the vest. I make it a policy to steer all discussions away from politics; there's no point getting into it.

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Originally posted by Eloise:
Alice and Sally, It must be the 'Anglo' influence that still lingers in the usage here in Canada. To me, "the locals" smacks a little of the British colonial attitude, and I don't think I'd even refer to the residents of a particular small town close to Montreal as "the locals."

In some places it`s actually a compliment. They say around here you have to have lived here for 30 years before you`re "a local" - till then you`re an "incomer"

My daughter and I just returned from Paris and everyone there was very friendly as well. We have never experienced any unfriendly people in France or Italy, but we always have positive attitudes, so maybe that helps.

Sharon

I'm not sure this fits in with the discussion, but it's a recent experience. As a part time resident in a tiny village in Tuscia, I am used to being stared at when I go about my business in the town, and I always thought it had mainly to do either with the fact that I was a foreigner (American), or that perhaps the starers were nearsighted and felt they ought to recognize me, hence the pained peering expression pointed in my direction.
The other evening I called on a neighbor to give her a photograph I had taken of her months ago during a festival. She had asked me for a copy and I had finally found the time to print it out and take it to her. It was after eight pm. The village was completely silent, all the shutters were closed and the doors bolted shut. Not a soul in sight. I stood in the doorway, not wanting to stay too long. I was just about to leave when she whispered hoarsely " Let me give you some fresh eggs." I declined, for various reasons, but had to give in, and she took me by the wrist and pulled me into the kitchen, whispering again,"We better shut the door." "Yes," I said, "it's chilly tonight."
"No," she countered, "they're watching us," and her eyes glanced up at the darkened window across the narrow, cobbled street.
Sometimes you do think people are looking at you with overly keen interest, and you wonder why. Am I appropriately dressed? Is there a stain on the back of my dress? Do I look so awful? Don't they like americans/tourists ( or whatever)? What have I done to gain such disapproval? These are some of things that may come to mind. But it may be that the "attitude" which seems aimed at you as an outsider is really a much more general situation.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Z:
I was in Italy a year ago and 99% of the locals were very friendly. Has anyone encountered any “attitude” change toward Americans lately? We always have dressed properly…attempted to speak a little of the language and not acted like the “Ugly American” keeping a low profile. Any encounters to share?

I agree with other posters that opinions vary with Italians, just as they do with other people. I will say, though, that last year when we were in Levanto, a young woman told us(my husband & I, and our two friends) that she appreciated that Americans are fighting terrorists.

I did see some graffiti on a wall in Venice that was anti-Bush, but that was the only instance. And, as was said before, it can be anti-America, but I've never been treated badly as an American.

Louise

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again,"We better shut the door." "Yes," I said, "it's chilly tonight."
"No," she countered, "they're watching us," and her eyes glanced up at the darkened window across the narrow, cobbled street.

The small towns have always been that way. People peer through their shutters, see everything, and gossip.

An Italian friend was renovating a 3rd floor apartment a few years ago; he'd removed the old windows, the new ones weren't installed yet. They were living 200 meters away in a rented apartment, and one night he was awaken by a tremendous rainstorm. He hurried over, found water pouring into the apartment. So, at 2:30 in the morning he was bailing water and dumping it out the window.

At 7:30 the next morning his mother in law was going to buy bread, and another woman came up an told her that her son-in-law had been in that apartment acting very strangely the night before.

The Italian national sport is not soccer (calcio)... there are two true national sports, tax evasion and gossip.

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there are two true national sports, tax evasion and gossip.

What? ...This could be about small town Alabama. ~sandi

I've found that Italians, like many Europeans, make a distinction between the US as a country, Bush et al as our government, and us as individuals. They may have strong, possibly negative, opinions about the first two but have always been friendly and tolerant of us as individuals. It is a distinction that perhaps Americans might want to try to understand better.
We've been in Italy (mostly Rome) every year since 1998 (will be back in 7 weeks!) and have not noticed any increase in "attitude" problems towards me as an individual. I see anti-American graffiti, especially when Bush came to visit last year, but I and my traveling companions have always been treated with warmth and respect.

I like weigh in on this. My first visit to Italy was in '88, at the height of the Reagan presidency, Gorbachev and the Berlin Wall. During my 5 month visit, I experienced only 1 negative (and even then, only slight) negative moment. When I returned 3 years ago, my wife and I visiting Florence the same week the US invaded Iraq, we witnessed many protests, but never felt personally threatened. That was the first of our 5 trips to Italy since, and really I cannot say that I witnessed a change in attitude towards Americans. Just last week, we returned home from Florence and I had to chuckle a little bit - March is a big month for Italian school kids to travel and their attitudes and appreciation for pop culture have not changed much in the past 18 years. The one constant I've observed (and this, frankly might be small) is a prediliction towards wearing jackets with patches or emblems; I've noted many with US military markings. Not much different from what I saw 18 years ago.

Linda, I suspet that the problem is not that you are disapproved as well that you are in a small village. In such villages people have ONE single hobby, and that's gossip. The reason the woman didn't want to let you in was that if she let you in the other people in the village would have started talking about what may have happened between the two of you while you weren't in plain sight. Social control, in such places, can be axfisiating, totally oppressive (and that's one of the reasons I am very much a city, or at least middle-sized town, person). In a village where everybody knows everybody else, all the actions that anybody take, all the words, absolutely everything is taken into close consideration, sectioned and discussed. Conclusions often dipend on one single person that is a sort of "chairperson" for the gossiping, and who may actually bias the status of everyone who lives in the village, or even who visits it occasionally, just due to her (this "chairperson" is usually a woman, although sometimes he can be a man) liking or disliking of that one person. And anyone that's not from the village is usually disliked, or at least watched with some suspect!

Boy, I like living in a big city where I can walk for hours without meeting anyone I have seen before!

I find I deal more with "curiosity" or "fascination" than attitude.

There is a little group of old ladies who sit out on a bench on my street every afternoon. When I pass by, they always stare and whisper something about "that Americana", but they are pleasant. In the village, people are actually more patient with me and enjoy my funny Italian.

When asked about politics, I tread carefully. But then again, most of them feel the have their own hands full with Berlusconi these days!

Two years ago, my husband and I were in a small town in Puglia. After dinner, we were walking up and down the main street during passagiata, and stopped for . Two very well-dressed older ladies were watching us closely. I'm sure they guessed we were Americans, or at least tourists. When they walked by us to sit at another bench in the piazza, one very obviously moved her handbag to the opposite arm as far away from my husband as she could (as if he might grab her purse). We smiled at them and said "Buona Serra" A few minutes later, leaving my husband on our bench, I slowly walked over to their bench and began speaking to them in my "Kindergarden Italian". They were then very friendly, and asked me to join them. When they learned my mother's family was from the area, and we lived in southern CA, we had the very cute conversation of "Then you must know my cousin's son in San Francisco..."

My friends who are older and havn't done much traveling lately seem to some how just know that there is an attitude problem encountered by Americans traveling in Europe.While I would not walk around waving an American flag,I have never had any negative attitudes around me.RR

RR makes a great distinction. There is so much (very visible) anti-America sentiment in Europe currently, and of course our media loves to highlight it. Those who don't travel are probably convinced that a country, or its inhabitants, who protest our government's policies must be against us as a people.
After 30 plus years of European travel, I'm happy to say I've never been witness to any "attitude", except that given by a visitor!

I don't think you would find many italians singing "God Bless America..." but not that many burning the US flag.... I believe that most of all this attitude towards americans (God.. do bless America please!!) is a "media" affair....

You know, I aggree about people watching tourists in some places. It doesn't mean that they are negative about anything at all. Sometimes it is just curiosity. Sometimes they just wanted to know what time it was and were not wearing a watch, but are asking themselves if it would bother you.

Even if some people say something about you, well they don't travel too much most probably and don't have a busy life, so they have to do something.

In Italy, I stayed in a hospital with my baby, I found some people came directly to me and asked questions like they knew me for ever, and other that were cautious, but looked curious at the beggining. I usually smile, and all of them finally were extremely kind.

As for the gossip, I was convinced that when we moved to Montreal that there is no such a thing because I don't have time to seat and chat. But since we have our in-laws with us and specially my mother in law in her 80ies. I knew most of the people in our area, but now I know many things that I would never ask someone. Just because she is seating all the day outside with the neighbor every single person and car stops to chat with them.

I spent 3 weeks in Italy in October, visiting Vicenza, Perugia, and Bologna. I speak some Italian, but am in no way fluent. I found people friendly, open, and super pleased that I was learning Italian. When we spoke of politics, they could separate the Bush administration from Americans in general. My conversations were shopkeepers, fellow travelers on trains and local buses.