This includes all kinds of service people as well as stores that make deliveries. It is so surprising to me that people come to the house to bring you things, that I always forget to calculate that into my plans. Here are some examples:
- The grocery store will deliver your groceries (remember many people don't have cars, they walk everywhere or take the bus)
- Drs. will come after 8pm and before 8am on a house call.
- The mechanic will come to the house, change your tires, pick up your car and take it to the shop, and then later return it
- The nurseries, furniture stores, any number of businesses will all deliver for free; the only thing you should do is invite them in and offer them coffee (Italian coffee)
- The wood for the fireplace was delivered and stacked expertly at no charge
- The farmacia delivers medicines
Men Still Do Chivalrous Things for Women
Men in Italy usually open doors for women, give women their seat, open car doors, help you in and out of the car (which at my stage of life I really need!), offer you a hand to step up or down, unlock doors, carry heavy parcels, buy you coffee, take your coat, help you on/off with your coat, lift and carry heavy things, get things down off the top shelf, open your water bottle for you (those plastic lids are welded on), scrape your windshield of ice, etc, etc.
There are many men in the US, especially the older generation, that do these acts of kindness also. It is mainly the younger generation of men that are not being taught. Or perhaps it is the younger women who view it as "unequal" to receive these courties where as I view it as just that, courtesies and kindness and I am always happy for the help!
Use the 5 min. Rule for Parking Anywhere
So you remember the 5 second rule when you drop some tasty morsel on the floor? Well, the Italians have taken that to another level. You can park anywhere you want, I mean anywhere -- in the middle of the street, going the wrong direction, on the sidewalk, across a driveway, sticking out in the street, or in Mercogliano, double or triple parked and blocking the entire road -- all you do is put on your flashers and run into the store to get something! I love it! The basic problem is the streets are very narrow and there isn't enough parking so people do this and you don't get a ticket. People just drive around you.
Prescription Medicine is Cheap
I am still baffled by the huge difference in the price of prescription medicines. Things like Omeprazol (Prilosec) and Fexophenadine (Allegra) that are not even prescription drugs in the US any more but they are still relatively expensive. I pay more than most Italians because I am getting the prescription from a private doctor instead of a public health doctor, but what I pay is dirt cheap compared to what I pay in the US. This is strictly a situation of pricing the drugs to what the market will bear. In Italy people would never pay what people in the US pay for medicines.
Really Fresh, Locally Grown Natural Food
The Italians would be amused by the CSA/locally grown food emphasis in the past few years; they have always done that and can't imagine why anyone would sacrifice flavor and quality by picking food green, spraying it with chemicals and shipping food thousands of miles. They are so picky about fish and vegetables and fruit being fresh, they turn up their noses at anything more than a couple days from the vine.
In addition they typically use very little pesticides, fungicides, hormones or antibiotics in their meat, no genetically altered hybrids, and all their chickens are free range -- what other kind is there?
The drawback to some might be a more limited variety of fruits and vegetables out of season. They do import somethings from Africa, so you can get fresh pineapple, for example, in Italy and yet none is grown here. Other things that are imported are avocados (which I dearly love), berries, aged beef (they don't age their meat in Italy), cold water fish such as salmon that come from the northern Atlantic waters, and limes (from Brazil). You pay more for these but they are available.
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