No need for happy pills when living in Rome

   One thing comes to mind when you are standing in the footsteps of the great Romans: Those guys must have been huge!

© Lorenzo Biagi

 
   On the ground is big shiny stones. Around you is great monuments and before you lay the amazing ruins of the magnificent Colosseo, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre. You can almost feel the nerves that once surrounded this building, where thousands of men fought for their lives. And today, what is left of this time still stands here in Rome as a great reminder of how powerful the roman empire once was.

   It is hard to believe though, when you are in Rome today, that these super friendly and smiling people are the direct lifeline from the men and woman that once powered over a good third of the world. From Syria in the far east, to Britain in the north and all of Spain and Portugal, including the coastline of the Mediterranean sea, the Romans had set their marks. Today I am met with smiling faces, loving gestures and curious souls as I am walking through the streets of Rome. Thus, concluding the one and probably most significant cultural difference between the Scandinavians and the Italians: You guys smile at strangers!

    Being from a country with the highest number of people with a depression – (seriously in Denmark we are eating those happy pills like they were tic-tacs) - this is a great deal to me. Usually I am not met with people who has the extra energy to smile at other people. And if they do, they are usually either crazy, or stealing from you. Or both.
   Once we were a great nation of bloodthirsty Vikings, that traveled in the cold north to rape and kill and steal on the way (back then we were not so depressed) Today we are a nation of people with the highest level of personal depth in the world – that is four times as much as the Italians by the way. A depth that is almost impossible to get rid of as we also have the highest level of taxes in the world, and the lowest productivity level in the world. (And people ask me why I run away.) Hence: we don't smile for nothing.

  So being a worn out Viking, I am questioning the differences between us Scandinavians and Italians. And here is a few reasons why I thing you guys seem happier than us: Obviously the weather. Have you even seen rain and stormy weather? Second, you have the high level of delicacy food – I am like a child in a candy-store walking though the green section of the supermarket. Those peppers, those big apples, those juicy oranges, it’s incredible! But I think most of all, the reason why you guys are a smiling nation, is because of how highly valued family is here. For whatever reason, you guys value your family, help each other out, and have a hard time moving out from home. Denmark is the country in Europe (we win again) where fewest children under 18 still live at home. In Italy 32 % of men still live at home when they turn 25. In Denmark that’s 2 %.

But enough of statistics. It’s time to continue on the journey in Italy. Next: The secrets of Italian food