What Italy Taught Me About America
- Grant Wiese
- 13 hours ago
- 4 min read
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What Italy Taught Me About America
Consumerism, regulations, agriculture, and the surprising differences I noticed from 12 days abroad.
Roma
I just got back from 12 days in Italy, and wow, it was special. It was a trip stocked full of new experiences, as I had never been very far out of the country and definitely never to Europe before.
I had my first red-eye flight with about two hours of sleep and got off the plane straight into a golf cart tour of the Colosseum, Julius Caesar's stabbing location, the Pantheon, and so much more.
My wife and I had a private meal with a sommelier (wine-tasting expert), and the kids got to throw coins into the Trevi Fountain. We spent a day going through Vatican City, had a private tour through the Sistine Chapel, and climbed the dome of St. Peter's Basilica.
Firenze
We then took the high-speed train through Tuscany to Florence, where the kids joined us in a pasta-making class (my daughter now wants a pasta-making guitar for Christmas). We had them climb 460 steps to the dome of Santa Maria, where we were staying nearby.
Two additional favorites in Florence were climbing the bell tower and Leonardo da Vinci's children's museum.
Beaches
A day in Cinque Terre gave us all the views that you see from postcards. Then we spent a few days in the lazy Italian retirement town of Follonica, where we had sandy beaches all to ourselves (and no one speaking English).
There was a seven-hour time difference to gain back on our long travel day home. We got up at 5:30 Italy time and made it home at 8 p.m. Central U.S. time. We survived the 22 hours awake fairly well until the kids woke up at 1 a.m. for the last few days, thinking that it was still 8 a.m. Rome time.
We had quite a few hours of road time moving from city to city across Italy. I noticed some striking differences between Italy and the U.S. Here are a few that are worth sharing.
Consumerism
U.S. consumerism is on another level. I'm not sure that I ever drove down the main interstate system, but semis were not a common sight anywhere in our travels. Smaller-sized vehicles, both personal vehicles and trucks, were used throughout. Semis were in existence but were typically hauling much smaller trailers.
I remember visiting New York City in 2014, and it was very common to see trash and large dumpsters everywhere, with alleys being blocked by large vehicles. That wasn't the case in Italy. It sure felt like the need for things was less of a requirement where we visited. There was less 'stuff' and even the trash cans were smaller.
Electric
On the vehicle front it's worth pointing out, too. Italy is filled with insanely crazy drivers, and lines on the road are always optional. That said, the air, even in the inner city, was clean because everyone was either driving motorcycles, scooters, or electric vehicles.
There was something to be said about having vehicles gunning it right next to you while you're walking down the sidewalk or up an alley, but not having to breathe in the exhaust every time it happened.
Regulations
U.S. regulations are helping drive our massive debt. Looking at the interstate system in Italy, they obviously have an advantage by not having freezing temperatures to break up their roads. Still, you can tell that they don't have to clear out huge amounts of space on either side of the road to make sure:
the shoulders are wide enough
the ditches slope correctly
the ditches are big enough
the ditches slope correctly on the other side
No. If they need a road they put the road in and have add a fence. End of story.
Less regulation around their roads has to allow for faster construction and projects while saving a ridiculous amount of money compared to the U.S.
Built to Last
For this one, I wasn't sure if it was their natural resources of stone or their insanely long history compared to the U.S., but it was hard to tell old buildings from new buildings.
It sure felt like everything there was built to last. It was harder to see trends from one decade to the next, as everything flowed better and just looked nicer and more similar overall. The whole city was a matching neighborhood compared to the different eras you can see moving from block to block through a town in the U.S.
Agriculture
The farms were small there. You can tell that commercial agriculture in the U.S. has really taken over and changed the dynamic of things. Yes, we are extremely good at using every square inch and getting the most out of our operations.
Is it any surprise that consolidation continues to take place?
As the family business gets pushed out, I don't see that being as much of an issue in Italy, as it sure looked like all farms were still on a family scale. We have gotten extremely good at what we do here in the U.S., but it is much less scenic than what they have in Italy.
Strike
Our travel plans did get interrupted due to a train strike taking place. Apparently, this is a fairly regular occurrence over there, happening about once a month.
I won’t pretend to know the details on either side of the argument, but I’m grateful that we don’t have as frequent of interruptions as I am aware of here in the U.S.
Summary
Italy was fantastic, and I was not excited to come back one bit.
That said, it makes for a fantastic vacation destination, and I am very happy to be living in the grand old U.S.A. I can’t wait to celebrate the big 250 years of existence here in America.
Make it a great day.
Grant
