Italy-Spain (2)

One day, in a Spanish city, walking late at night back to the hotel after some live show, the whole width of a broad sidewalk was taken over by two young men, dressed in an over-the-top way. They were speaking out loud, in spite of the streets being in silence. When I walked by them, I thought: “Aha! Of course!” So, it seems that Italians do not shy away from their questionable habits, no matter if they are in foreign land, no matter if they are breaking any minimum respect.

It has come to my attention that it is not a question of my personal perception only, but it seems that some other Europeans perceive Italians in a similar way that I do. Two short anecdotes to illustrate my point:

1) Flight to where?

When flying from Naples to Barcelona, the flight seemed pretty full of Italians. There were two young girls in their early thirties that would not stop taking photos of everything, from the boarding desk to the first step inside the plane. They were dressed in Italian designer clothes and wearing Italian designer ostentatious eye-glasses and heavy make-up (let me clarify this was a morning flight); above all what was most dominant (aside from the flashy logos all over) was their arrogant attitude (they were ahead of me at the check-in desk and just ahead in boarding). By their looks and attitude, it was hard to believe what it seemed: that maybe it was their first time flying. Once on board, they suddenly stop while walking along the aisle and one asks me in Italian: “Oh, so are seats numbered?” “Yes.” And since they were stopping the inflow of passengers a young energetic steward immediately showed up from the end of the aircraft and kindly offered his help. They conceitedly showed at him their boarding passes. I was still waiting to get to pass by. This guy with his straightest face says: “Barcelona? But, you are on the plane to Madrid!”

The girls froze and panicked. The guy and I started laughing out loud. Only then they clicked.

The steward made fun of their attitude (I don’t know a thing, but I am still arrogant and ‘stronso sotto il naso’) in such a candid, light, fresh way, that he made the whole situation even funnier and the contrasts more apparent.