Let’s talk about Italy in general.

· We’re only used to it in mocking form, but Italians’ body language when they talk is actually very beautiful — I could stare at them conversing all day.

· Gelati: It is of course very good here, but not significantly better than what I can find in Toronto if I look hard enough. But here it’s all over the place, always good, and dirt cheap.

· Large, elaborate, beautiful churches everywhere (and especially in Rome), some blocks with two or three. You actually get sorta sick of them and wonder how they manage to fill them up every Sunday. My Napoli host told me that most of them are actually closed now except for a few days in the year.

· Italians need to take an honest look at the level of pollution in their cities — this is not what advanced, modern cities look like.

· Everyone I’ve talked to likes the euro and blames their crisis on the government (and Germans). Obviously I think the opposite.

· If I could describe Italian food in just one sentence, it would be something like: Respect your ingredients and your ingredients will take care of you.