Prior to traveling to Italy I'd watched Katharine Hepburn in the movie "Summertime" navigate through the waterways of Venice, experiencing the various people and places that make Italy so enchanting. She fell into the Venetian waterways (and got pinkeye!), fell in love with a handsome gentleman, and fell for Italy all in one trip. I myself couldn't wait for the opportunity to fall, not in the canal mind you but in love with my one and only "it" place (and if a world wind romance ensued I might not have objected to that ;o). This movie further piqued my interest in the Italian culture, I wondered how similar my experience would be to Katharine's, especially since this film was shot in the 1950's.
After retuning from Italy and watching "Summertime" again, I was surprised how similar my Italian experience was to Katharine Hepburn's character even though my peers and I were unable to visit Venice. We too had to travel by train to our final destination and struggle with our luggage and although we no longer employ the use of film, my memory card was full within 36hrs of being in Italy. Shopping in Italy we haggled prices and played "let's make a deal" with vendors as did the characters in the movie. We shared our experiences with fellow tourists many of whom were from America like us and used the five or so Italian words we had learned every chance we got. Ciao!, Quanto, etc.
Italian media mirrored American culture in that they have many of the same magazine and television programming. However there is a heavy political influence that dictates their television programming. In the U.S. we have C-Span and CNN that constantly report on government issues, in Italy there are times when stations such as MTV air politically charged programming.
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