willit

I think anybody reading this post needs to look carefully at the date of the OP. If my memory serves me correctly, this was posted about 10 days after the invasion of Iraq.

I was in Rome at this time, and there was a great deal of anti war sentiment, directed not only at GB and the USA, but also at Blair and the Brits, and to an extent Berlusconii.

I have just returned from Siena, where I spent a couple of weeks on a language course with several young Americans. They did not seem to think there was any overt "anti Americanism"

willit

whoops - for 10 days read 40 days.

Intrepid1

The fact that there may be an increased amount of "anti-Americanism" in Orvieto or anywhere for that matter is just that: a fact. This is, unfortunately, one of the consequences of political happenings thse days and 40 days after the start of the war or not, it may be continuing.

The fact that this is or was "very disconcerting" is also unfortunate. Apparently the causes of such may not seem so "worth it" when one actually travels to parts of the world in which the residents have a different outlook and opinion.

Breast beating at home in Wyo is one thing; living with some of the results is obviously another.

Jakes6

Actually, the ill treatment of American tourists in Orvieto seemes to be deep rooted and goes back to WWII. Most of the rudeness we encountered was from older residents. One example, when we took a tour of the caves of Orvieto, the guide repeatedly and pointedly referred to bombings of the surrounding area by Americans during WWII (Americans DID agree to protect the town of Orvieto and it's Duomo). The anti-Americanism is clearly much deeper than disagreement with current political happenings. I might add that the residents have every right to their opinion, like us or not, that is part of the education and experience of travel (or we would all stay home!). However, if we had known more before going, we probably would have chosen a friendlier part of Italy to spend a weekend and, I might add lots of euros.

wanderful

How did this original post about Orvieto come into play? The last 2003 post was in April (julierose), then there was the jump to 2006 (petertherabbit) and then subsequent posts, several of which are responding to the original post as if it were timely. Bizarre.

chicagolori

there was a troll over the weekend who topped old posts with nasty fake messages. Looks like they deleted his posts but left the responses so the messages seem out of sync.