A Russian travel blogger has described everyday life inside an Italian family, summing up one habit with the phrase that locals "walk around the house in outdoor shoes." She shared her observations in a post on her personal blog, called "Not Where You Are," on the Zen platform.
The blogger said she spent a lot of time over the summer with her Italian husband and his family. The first thing she noticed was how the parents treated their adult children.
Grown children treated like kids
Her husband's sister is 26 years old, but her parents still treat her like a child, the blogger said. She said her sister-in-law is never asked to wash dishes for everyone or help with cooking, and can sleep on the sofa or watch videos on her phone while everyone else is busy with chores, adding that this is considered normal by Italian parents. She said Italian parents often continue helping their adult children well into adulthood.
Simple meals and strict food traditions
The blogger also said Italians tend to avoid overly complicated cooking. She wrote that in Italy, green salad is eaten not at the start of a meal or alongside it, but after the main course. She said meat is often left unsalted during cooking, with each person adding their own seasoning at the table, and that olive oil is not used as a dressing during preparation either, but is instead placed on the table so everyone can add as much as they like. She said Italians take the seasonality of ingredients very seriously.
Shoes worn indoors
The blogger admitted she still cannot get used to the local habit of walking around the house in outdoor shoes. She said that for the comfort of their Italian friends, she and her husband often simply accept it and let guests keep their shoes on indoors, noting that marble floors in Italy are easy to clean, which helps her take the habit in stride.
The same blogger had previously written about habits of Italians that she said Russians would find embarrassing, saying that in Italy people are not ashamed of natural bodily functions.
