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It's not just we Italians who are caught up in the difficulty.

The Italians have their priorities right: They're driven, they do their work, but they really enjoy the day-to-day and they don't put off the enjoyment of the everyday for some future goal.

Italians are fantastic people, really. They can work you over in an alley while singing an opera.

Some Italians are geniuses, but you have to find a balance.

Italians know about human nature - they understand human nature perhaps better than anyone else does. They know that people are weak and greedy and lazy and dishonest and they just try to make the best of it; to work around it.

Italians have no sense of the dramatic.

What has impressed me the most about the Italians whose tables we've sat at is that they are traditional cooks but also outrageously innovative. These people are wild improvisers.

There is in the DNA of the Italians a bit of madness, which in the overwhelming majority of cases is positive. It is genius. It is talent. It's the masterpieces of art. It's the food, fashion, everything that makes Italy great in the world.

The Italians always know that I'm not Italian.

Italians come to ruin most generally in three ways, women, gambling, and farming. My family chose the slowest one.