Italian Intimacy

There's a joke that goes something like this:

A boy and his dad are talking one day and the boy asks the question:
"Dad, what's the difference between heaven and hell?"

The father thinks for a minute, and then begins to answer.

Heaven is when:

• The cars are German
• The Food is French
• The Police are British
• The lovers are Italian
• ...and everything is run by the Swiss.

Hell is when:

• The cars are French
• The food is British
• The police are German
• The lovers are Swiss
• ....and everything is run by the Italians

For every stereotype, there is an ounce of truth. Although many Italian workers are inefficient, the Italian passion runs strong. It is most likely true that they probably make love better than most, but the passion and love I am speaking of is subtler.

For example, Traveling Lisa asks if her bra may be showing. I respond to her, "Just show off your Bra". It doesn't matter. Italian breasts are more prevalent than Gelato stands. Women's midriffs are more common than a double espresso. Italy is simply the land of romance and intimacy. You may be thinking to yourself, are all Italians promiscuous? Absolutely not. They simply just like to be comfortable.

For instance, it is totally normal for a rich, Italian girl to strike up a conversation with a poor boat worker. It's perfectly normal for the highway tollbooth agent to talk with a man in a BMW for 10 minutes in the middle of rush hour traffic. The reason is intimacy. Italians do intimacy better than anyone. We see it at Gaia's house - people from all walks of life talk to each other. There are no jocks, nerds, stoners, freaks, goons, band geeks or skater crowds. Everyone is the same. Everyone has respect for one another. Italians are simply closer to one another. They take hours out of their day to eat lunch. No one comes back to them and asks them how many minutes they took on their lunch break. Tranquillo, I hear. That's just how they roll.