Dating in Italy. May By Rick. May 24, Recently I was honored when my former Italian professor from F. In the article, I suggest that in the Italian dating arena, we poor American men are severely handicapped—even totally disqualified—by our post-feminism sensitivities and political-correctness.
Perhaps too polite. We open doors, engage in smart conversation, avoid sexual innuendo, and never assume that an invitation for dinner or a drink is any more than just that. Silly us, we thought that our All-American charm and goodwill leftover from World War II would instantly ingratiate us with those belle ragazze. Case in point: last summer I met your typical Italian-American goombah at an aperitivo on the Isola one night. Super nice guy; friendly, well-groomed, successful career—the whole meatball.
He was in Rome for a few months on a very specific mission: to meet and eventually date an Italian girl. I asked him how his quest was going and the sound of his bubble bursting must have been audible from across the piazza.
My sympathies went out to him because his plight is a common one. Meanwhile our competition—the smooth-talking, Prada-wearing Italiano —has all the advantages when it comes to both the local girls and female expats. So it should be noted that American women have the exact opposite problem. Never before in their lives have they been showered inundated, pummeled with such overt attention from the opposite sex—and most of them are ill-prepared to deal with it.
On the first night that they meet! If these cultural mistranslations occur between Americans and Italians, the situation among two Italians is no less tricky these days. Herein lies the conundrum and perhaps one of many reasons why the birth rate among Italians is among the lowest in the western world.
