REAL FOOD, REAL WINE

In 2018, Italians spent 14.2 per cent of their monthly income on food and drink, more than any other European country (in the UK, the figure was 8.2 per cent). More than half of that was on fresh food. This is a nation that cares deeply about what it eats, and is prepared to get a cheaper TV to be able to afford a better cut of meat. The same goes for wine: a galaxy of small producers keeps quality high.

REGIONAL DIVERSITY

The peasant farmer we bought our Umbrian house from had once been to

Rome – less than two hours’ drive away – when he did military service. He talked about it as if it was some far-off city on the Silk Route. Unified only in 1861, Italy is arguably more a loose coalition of regions than a coherent nation state. Dialects shift from one village to the next; so do recipes. This is a joy for the curious Italophile.

Even two parts of one region – say Sicily’s baroque southern triangle around Ragusa, and the wild Madonie mountains in the north – can feel like different countries.

SEASONS

Sharing a bruschetta at 2am, in one of the mills that work on a 24-hour cycle during the olive harvest. Glorious days at the end of February when it is warm enough to eat lunch outside in Naples or Rome. Waiting for the artichokes to arrive in March, the strawberries in June, the chestnuts in October, the black kale in winter. Summer with its al fresco events. In Italy, the seasons still count.

ARTISANS

You can plan a whole holiday around Italy’s craft traditions. Need some wall tiles or fruit bowls? Head for Grottaglie in Puglia, where every other building seems to be a ceramics workshop. Or how about hanging a Florentine jaunt on a handmade pair of shoes? Wherever you go, artisans will be pursuing or reinventing traditions.

COFFEE

On my way to the Cannes Film Festival by train from Florence, I used the change at Ventimiglia – last Italian town before the border – to knock back what I knew would be my last good espresso for 10 days. Two of my best friends are French, but they just don’t get coffee, whereas Italians seem to have it in their bloodstream. Few homes have the resources to make great barista-style espresso so Italians socialise in cafés and bars, which thrive even in tiny villages.

CULTURE

One of my favourite places in Sicily is Cava di Cusa, the quarry used by the Greek settlers who built the temple of Selinunte in the fifth century BC. Not just because the great stone columns have a feel of empires risen and fallen, but also because you can just wander into the site. Italy has an easy rapport with its cultural riches – one estimate has it that the country is home to about half the world’s art treasures. The respect for culture is still strong, even in schoolchildren.

THAT SENSE OF STYLE

I’m wary of national stereotypes, but there’s no denying that this is a country where most people take a pride in their appearance. It has very little to do with personal income; a street kid in Bari can look as “elegant” as a Milanese banker. It’s mostly a question of panache and some DNA strand that bubbles up in products as diverse as the Vespa or Paolo Sorrentino’s film The Great Beauty. The flipside is that you rarely get invited back to a young Italian’s home: the effort is all for the world outside.

TRATTORIAS

The trattoria is the gold standard behind every Italian super-chef ’s fancy Michelin-starred joint. These places – the good ones, at least – are guardians of traditions. My favourite? A shout-out to Antichi Sapori in the Puglian hinterland, where the daily menu contains no dishes – just a list of the ingredients gathered from the kitchen garden.

CYCLING AND WALKING

I remember just about every route I’ve done on my road bike in Italy – among them the glorious climb to a chapel painted in harlequin colours by artist Sol LeWitt on a Barolo wine estate in Piedmont, and any number of rides in the UmbrianTuscan borderlands near my adopted home town of Città della Pieve. Walking is equally satisfying. In both cases, it has to do with entering into the pace and pulse of a country best seen slowly and close up.