All the world loves Italy because it is old but still glamorous. Because it eats and drinks well but is rarely fat or drunk. Because it is the place in a hyper-regulated Europe where people still debate with perfect intelligence what, really, the red in a stoplight might mean.  –IAN FISHER

Birds chirp more in Italy. Italian dogs are well-behaved and welcomed in stores and restaurants. Fields of sunflowers vibrate in the sunshine. Carousels appear, overnight, in piazzas. No colds. No flu. The people of Italy appear to live totally free from useless hand-wringing guilt, indulging in all manner of pleasures such as languorous meals, uplifting music, leathering their skin in the sunshine, drinking wine like it is water, and enjoying sex. -dal libro "A Footpath in Umbria"