Italy is rustic, the paint and facings are peeling off of many, if not most of the buildings.  The grass is never cut.

It is very green, I didn’t expect that.  Of course to get green you have to have water, and in spring you get lots, normally in the form of a thunderstorm at 4pm everyday in spring.  It can be mid twenties at lunchtime and then the heavens open, the temperature plummets and your diving for the nearest bar. I’ve heard it’s the worst spring since 1957.

In a supermarket you will have very narrow aisles and are feed around on a one way circuit so don’t miss anything otherwise you have to squeeze back past the oncoming trolleys

I know that gender equality is still some way off in Italy and that is maybe why a policelady gave me a really big smile on seeing me driving a Bertie, either that or the fine is in the post.Police are everywhere in cities: lots of different types, local police, national police, carabinieri and if you’re near major sights the army carrying machine guns.  They stand around on corners outside their vehicles (often head down in the phone). At places like Trevi fountain they are there with their whistle, blasting away at anyone who is in anyway disrespectful, (sitting down with an ice cream,holding hands,  etc…).

Mentioning ice cream everyone knows Italy is famous for it’s ice cream, what I didn’t realise is that it is eaten all the time.  it can be minus 2 and people walk along the street licking a cone.

We keep seeing new cars on car carriers or boats in docks that are wrapped in plastic, can you imaging getting a new car for a present and having to take the plastic off.  (Can you imagine getting a new car?)

Cars go everywhere. You think you are walking down a cobbled road too narrow for a car and then you have to breath in as one squeezes past.  Sometimes I think they take cars down steps as I can’t see any other way they can have got a car to that parking spot.

Bins – like Spain you take your rubbish to big wheelie bins that are on the roadside. Unlike Spain these are not emptied.  Rubbish flows into the streets all around. Animals drag the contents into hedges and fields. I suggest always carrying a nose peg for walking along the streets.  The further south you get the more this happens and each motorway layby becomes an unofficial tip,with rubbish piled high and blowing onto the carriageway. Walking around the suburbs of Naples is almost like walking through a landfill site. As you are walking you are kicking your way through the split bags of rubbish. The other thing about bins is the opposite really,  they are provided in country picnic areas, even the really remote ones where you wouldn’t even expect a picnic site

You still get roadside petrol station and lots of the stations are serviced.  Some you have a choice, but often not. You pay extra for the service.