We returned from Italy a month ago yesterday. We were treated with only with respect our entire trip. We found the Italian people to be welcoming.

Don't let the reports of one event worry you about your trip.

Go - Have Fun - You will love Italy!

Have been to Italy 6 times. And in Rome, a man almost pushed my friend to the ground, on purpose. He was short and frail looking, but very nasty. She had done nothing, not even spoke. The shopkeeper said he hated tourists and did this whenever he could. Last year in Florence, we were walking single file down a side street and a man walked past and pushed me into the wall. We were not blocking the walk and doing nothing. So, yes it does happen. But on the other side of the coin, I have had many wonderful experiences, shop keepers giving me back lira, when I had given him too much, people walking me to a site, that I could not find, etc. Don't worry and don't let the fear of one bad person ruin your vacation. Italy is wonderful.

Back in 1976, members of Chile's secret police assassinated a former Chilean diplomat, Orlando Letelier, on the streets of Washington, D.C. At the time there was tremendous outrage that a foreign government would carry out an assassination on U.S. soil. Now, 30 years later, the U.S. government was caught carrying out a kidnapping on Italian soil. (The term "extraordinary rendition" is right out of Orwell.) The outrage is the same. You don't go to someone else's country to carry out your black ops and expect them to be happy about it. It's something called territorial sovereignty.
For the record, the Italian magistrate's warrants did not identify any of the present or former CIA agents by name, although some of their names were learned by the Italian press and published. And the Italian government, including Bush's good friend Prime Minister Berlusconi, have explicitly stated that they were not aware of the CIA's plan. The story that the Italian secert service was informed ahead of time appeared in today's Washington Post and was sourced to unnamed CIA officials. What a shock.

The average (meaning the majority) of Italians are to busy dealing with their day to day life to get in an uproar about American tourist. And the economy of Italy is in such dire straights that the tourist money is needed.

In every town, city, and country throughout the world there are people that have mental problems and consequently can be obnoxious to tourist or to even their own people.

Cooltones, go to Italy and enjoy your trip. You will be fine. Best wishes.

cooltones,
I just returned from Italy and I can say there was ABOLUTELY no rudeness overall towards Americans. We did have one bitchy waitress but by no means because we were American, she did it to all the tables! Have a great trip and relax, the Italians are great!

We are currently in Italy. We have visited Venice, The Dolomites, Rome and our now in Tuscany. We have not encountered any anti American Sentiment. The Italians are qite nice and very helpfu. Just remember to say thank you and you should be fine.

Travelatte

Hi Opus,

>My only worry is if I can devour enough gelato to try every flavor when I get there next week. <

No, but it is a lot of fun trying. ((I))

Are you sure your husband's "informant" wasn't speaking about France?

I think Traveler863 made a great point... whenever something happens to an American, we think it is because we are an American. Usually, we just happened to run into someone who is rude without discrimination. I've noticed that Europeans can often say disparaging things about other Europeans (our Italian taxi driver dropped us off in Rome. I mentioned how lovely the French Embassy was - we stayed next to it. He said, "It's fine, but unfortunately it is owned by the French".) If he had said that same thing about Americans, we'd interpret it as Americans are being specifically targeted.

I don't think the taxi driver was being anti-French as it is commonly understood. Romans consider the Palazzo Farnese (on which Michelangelo worked) an important part of their cultural heritage, and it galls them somewhat that the French made a deal back in 1635 that more or less "gave" the Palazzo to them in perpetuity. According to one guidebook, the French pay one lira every 99 years (!) as rent for the Palazzo.

The French have also not used the greatest public-relations approach: For many years, they kindly allowed the Romans in for a rare open house once every few years. The Romans lined up by the thousands to get in...

Recently, the French have woken up and now offer two tours of the Palazzo daily (one in Italian, one in French) on Tuesdays and Thursdays. When I tried to reserve by e-mail at the end of April for a tour in mid-May, I was told that they were booked through most of the month of June. And I'm willing to wager that the vast majority of those taking the tours are Romans rather than tourists.

And my point exactly - he wasn't being anti-French anymore than similar statements are not anti-American.