CultureShock! Italy

CultureShock! Italy is the must-have guide for anyone living or working in Italy and who wants to decipher this diverse and rich country. This book will guide you through the highs and lows of adapting to Italian culture, offering useful tips and suggestions along the way. Learn about the geographical diversity of the country and how to hire a geometra for all your accommodation needs. Navigate your way through Italian body language and discover what it really means. Understand Italian family values and pick up tips on business etiquette.


Raymond Flower got to know Italy during World War II. As a young infantry officer, he plodded martially up much of the peninsula until a mortar bomb, fired with no friendly intent, brought his foot-slogging days to an end. For 35 years, he lived in a 12th-century Tuscan castello, producing his own Chianti wine. He also acquired an ancient mill in the Marche, which was subsequently replaced by a hilltop estate between the sea and the Sibillini mountains. Formerly an international tennis player, car racer, and car constructor, he now divides his time between Italy and Southeast Asia. A graduate of Magdalen College, Oxford, Raymond has written over 30 books, mainly historical, on a variety of subjects ranging from Egypt, Singapore and Western Australia to motor racing, winter sports and Lloyd’s of London.

Alessandro Falassi was born into an old Tuscany family residing in Chianti and Siena since the Middle Ages He was trained in Cultural Anthropology in Florence, Paris and later at the University of California Berkeley. As professor of Anthropology, he teaches in Italy and the United States. Alessandro Falassi was the director of the University for Foreigners in Siena from 1985–1992. He taught anthropology on ‘Semester at Sea’ going around the world in 1979 and 1981. In 1988–1990, he directed the filming of Italian Festivals for the Italian Ministry of Culture.Dr Falassi has published widely on social history, ritual and festivals, anthropology and folklore. His books are published in Italy, Spain, France, Germany, England and the United States. In 1992, Alessandro Falassi was elected Prior of the Contrada Sovrana dell’ Istrice in Siena where he lives with his wife and son when not travelling on his worldwide lecture tours.