3 February, 2007 | Leave a Comment

I wrote a post about Italian men right after I got home but forgot to post it! Oh dear. Well, here it is….

French men are flirtatious, but Italian men leave them in the dust. They just flirt so unashamedly. Once I was standing on a street corner in Florence, waiting for the light to change. This guy walked up next to me, stopped, lit his cigarette and then said, “Hello, dahling.” Then he just walked off. Very impressive. Another time, a teenage boy walked up to me and said, “Hello Miss, what is up?” Very hard not to laugh at that. It was bizarre how many times men on the street would say things to me in English. How on earth did they know that I speak English? I never said anything to them.

I already wrote about my encounters with the lusty receptionist at my hotel in Rome. One night I was sitting in the lobby doing a few e-mails. I was wearing my glasses and had my hair in a ponytail. What’s wrong with that? He begged me to take my hair down and remove my glasses. Actually, he began to remove the elastic from my hair before I’d even answered him. He then proceeded to tell me I was attempting to hide my beauty and that I didn’t want anyone to notice me. He then told me that I was not to come back to the lobby like that again! I normally would have told this guy to mind his own business, but I was sorta stunned at his forwardness. And then I began to wonder if he was right about why I sometimes dress the way I do.

The most colorful encounter I had was with a guy named Antonio. I transcribed my conversation with him because, you know, it was deliciously corny.

…chitchat…

Antonio: “Do you have a boyfriend waiting for you back in England?”

Anglofille: “I’m not English.”

Antonio: “American?”

Anglofille: “Si.”

Antonio: “Oh, I love Americans! They are so much more expensive.”

Anglofille: “Expensive?”

Antonio: “No, uh….expressive.”

More chitchat. He then reads my palm, tracing my love lines very carefully. I’m quite ticklish and I do not like this.

Antonio: “You will have three great loves in your life.”

Anglofille: “Oh really?”

Antonio: “Yes, it is very clear. If you want, I can be one of these three loves.”

Oh barf!

Antonio: “Do you have a boyfriend?”

Anglofille: “Maybe.”

Antonio: “Who?”

Anglofille: “You don’t know him.”

Antonio: “Why is he not here with you now? This man is crazy. I do not trust him.”

Anglofille: “I don’t really trust him either.”

Antonio: “You have beautiful eyes. I see in your eyes you are confused.”

Anglofille: “More often than not.”

Antonio: “You are confused about a man. Eyes do not lie. I think what you need is to make sex with a 45-year-old man. Younger men who are 25, 28, 30 – they do not know what to do. You need someone more experienced, someone who can teach you things. You are at a very important age. You need to experience everything.”

I must point out that this guy was very handsome and charming. Of course it was blindingly obvious that his hobby [or perhaps his business] is picking up foreign tourists and I imagine he’s quite successful at it.

Anglofille: “I’ve never had sex with a 45-year-old man, so I really don’t know.”

[Good one!]

Antonio: “Exactly. You don’t know what you are missing.”

[Can anyone confirm this?]

I’m sure you can imagine how this continued to play out. When I finally got up to go, he said: “I really admire you. You are a strong girl. [Girl!] You will go far in life. Being strong is very good for you. Not good for me, but good for you.”

You can’t leave Rome without visiting the Colosseum, viewing the Sistine Chapel and if you’re a woman, being propositioned by a professional Casanova. I’m just surprised they try to pick up on poor backpacker types. Ahhhh, the joys of traveling off-season…

1. Comments RSS

1. jen Says:

   February 3rd, 2007 at 2:25 pm

   Ha! That’s just priceless.

2. william Says:

   February 3rd, 2007 at 5:32 pm

   I laughed out loud when I read this posting! You should be the fifth member of the Sex and the City quartet!

3. Anita Says:

   February 3rd, 2007 at 5:48 pm

   My best lover was about 45. You should have taken him up on his offer.

4. Pam Says:

   August 13th, 2008 at 5:51 pm

   i just came across this and found your entry hilarious. i’m a canadian girl who was visiting london a couple weeks ago, and found out an italian man can be very forward. but oh so distractingly charming and handsome.

5. Michelle Says:

   September 29th, 2009 at 5:09 pm

   My coworker just sent me this because I have been telling him stories about how flirting is “sport” to Italian men.

   Thanks for the great laughs. I so know your situation as I have been there many times. Italian men are not subtle, but you do have to laugh because their flirting is world class no matter if they are 17 or 77.

6. Raquel Says:

   July 3rd, 2010 at 1:00 am

   Haha that’s funny, must of been a little creepy, but funny! I can’t decide between France or Italy for a summer abroad next year, so the kind of guy there were in that country were going to weigh over my final decision. Before I was leaning towards France, but this article made me re-think…