Having spent several years touring various parts of France I quite like the idea of trying Italy next year. My main problem is that I prefer to self cater and stay in gites in France and would love to do the same in Italy. How do I cope without knowing any Italian though? I know that in Spain for example there are areas where a lot of English is spoken and some other more rural parts where you really need some Spanish to get by. Is Italy the same? Which area would you recomend for someone who is new to Italy?

Since you are not going until next year, you have plenty of time to learn at lerast some Italian. Even if you stay in a region where many people know English, e.g., Tuscany, you will still have a richer and much more interesting experience if you can speak Italian.

Areas where hardly anyone knows English (e.g., most of Basilicata) are probaly not areas where you'd be staying on a first time trip to Italy anyway.

The only area of Italy where I've come across places where no one spoke English was Sicily. Every place I've been north of Rome there was plenty of people around who spoke English, even if not everyone did. In Sicily we got by with my meager "tourist Italian" and what my husband was able to learn in a year of self study. The people are so friendly and helpful that between sign language and a few words you get your messages across.

Italians is, in many ways, a wonderfully easy language to learn. And you have a whole year to learn it. Sign up for lessons or get some tapes and get going, and you won't have to worry a bit about limiting yourself as far as accommodations go.

You should have the best luck in the Rome and points North. The farther south you go,you will find fewer people who speak English. Since have some time, I suggest you sign up for an Italian course that gives you the basics. I would hate to see you loose out on the beauty and culture of the South, especially Sicily, because fewer people speak English. One of my most memorable moments in Palermo, Sicily was "communicating" with two elderly women who owned a store. They spoke no English and we spoke very little Italian.

I think that you should make it your goal to be able to speak a little Italian before you go. If only out of respect. You will probably find that a lot of Italians do know some English but how wonderful it is to be able to greet and ask simple questions in the language of the country you're visiting.

Some English is spoken in most every area of Northern Italy. Can't speak about southern Italy. But please learn some Italian before you go. We hve beento Italy 3 times doing our own thing and have never found it a problem. BTW what are "gites"?

>what are "gites"?

agroturismos

If you can get by with French I but you'd have few problems with Italian. Both are Romance languages with many similarities.

Get a phrase book and see how close they are.

mm

When speaking to an Italian who doesn't know English and who may not know French either, you canNOT get by by speaking French (or Spanish). However, if you already know another Romance language, you'll probably have an easier time learning Italian and will be able to take educated guesses on some of the vocabulary, although you may be more likely than a NON-Romance language trained person to slip and think in French (or Spanish) or come up with French or Spanish words when you're trying to speak Italian.

cmt - that's a 60+ word sentence!

What language was that anyway?

mm

Oh good. A research study shows a high correlation between a tendency to write in complex sentences during youth and middle age and low incidence of Alzheimer's disease later in life.

I've been to Italy 3 times in the last five years, speak no Italian beyond the basics (bone sera, ciao, etc) and never had a problem with trains, buses, cabs, hotels or restaurants in the larger cities and Tuscany.

I thought "gites" in France were mostly self-catering rental properties in the country.

An "agriturismo" in Italy is an actual working farm that takes some guests. I didn't think that's what "gites" were. Are they? I've never stayed in a gite, but I have stayed in an agriturismo a few times.

cmt, we have stayed at gites that were part of a vineyard, some where they were attached to the owners own home, one was a converted grain mill and others that were a separate rental homes. Lots of variety, lots of choices with gite rentals. Deborah

Hi cmt,

I think a gite can be on a working farm and an agroturismo can be on the property of a "gentleman farmer".

Am I misinformed?

Like cmt, I've always thought of a gite as any self-catering "cottage" or small rental in the country -- not necessarily on a farm at all.

Agroturismos, I've always assumed, ARE on an actual farm.

There are dozens of sites for renting gites in France. I don't see anything on any of them about working farms.

Ira, I'm ignorant about gites. I thought they were rental properties in the country in France, but if that's not accurate, the French experts can explain more accurately. But I do know that an agriturismo in Italy is a working farm. They are farms that may have anything from one or two guest rooms, like the one where I've stayed in San Salvatore di Fitalia, to a whole building full of rooms like a small inn, and may offer other services to tourists, such as nature tours or cooking lessons and almost always (maybe always) meals. But they are all definitely real farms that grow agricultural products or raise animals, or else I don't think they are supposed to hold themselves out as being agriturismi.

Explanation of what an agriturismo is (in English):
http://www.deliciousitaly.com/Agrietour.htm

There are a lot more pages explaining it in Italian, e.g.,
http://www.agriitalia.it/agriturismo/agriturismo.htm

I love these back-and-forth discussions and exchange of opinions... And we never hear from the original poster again! What's up with that?