NOTE: i am ethnically Pakistani and have been living in Italy for almost 10 years!
However, the 8-year-old me who moved here some years ago got shocked several times because of the cultural difference and stereotypes developed in my little mind.
Food
I still remember when i went to a pizzeria in Italy for the first time. I was left doubtful and confused for a good time seeing people eat pizzas with fork and knife, instead of using their hands!
Not only, another thing that shocked me a lot were their tables, each person had their own pizza, made of the flavour they liked.
That is something that I actually loved seeing because there is no compromising on your favourite pizza flavour!
A big stereotype created about Italy is that they eat only pizza and pasta!
I myself thought the same until i openly tried to get to know Italians better and especially their food, because god, i was missing out on too much.
By the way, my favourite has to be brodetto!
Language or dialects
Even though the official language is the one and only Italian, there are hundreds of dialects here.
All are, well, very different from each other at the point that once in Rome I passed a native for a foreigner because of him using unknown words to me and of course his peculiar accent.
Heterogeneity
8-year-old me thought that Italians are very similar to other Europeans, but there is already so much diversity from one region to the other!
Each Italian, in the first place, is proud of his country and in second place of their respective region because of different dialects, food, customs etc.
It's hard for me to call Italy a united country because of how different food, dialects etc. are in each region or even province!
Hygiene
One thing is sure, you won't find a bathroom in an Italian house without a bidet, which surprised me a lot as in Pakistan, there was no such thing.
Whereas, in local bathrooms, there is only toilet paper (sometimes not even that) and no source of water. This is actually one of those little things that i don't find to be so great in Italy.
Public transports
In Pakistan, if you travel by bus or train, your ticket will be checked during your travel and if you don’t have one, you can pay for it then.
However, in Italy, the system is completely different as you have to pass your ticket on the ticket validation machine.
If you're lucky enough, you'll bump into the ticket checker, who will find you an amount of price doubled 10 times the original price if found without a travel ticket (something around €80/90).
However, if you forget to pass the ticket on the machine but have your ticket, your fine will be something around €30.
I myself have experienced this and I must say that the Pakistani way of checking is better. At least you won't pay for having weak memory!
That's all i can remember now, i might add something else later.
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