On regional idiosyncrasies and national stereotypes, from Italy to Ireland - for Sunday Miscellany on RTÉ Radio 1, listen to Genovese by Rory Gleeson above.
In Bari, in the south of Italy, older women sit on stools in the street making orecchiette, ear-shaped pasta, laying them out on screens balanced across two chairs. In the evenings, the families sit outside in circles, setting the world to rights.
The people of Bari, my girlfriend tells me, live mostly outside. The houses in the city centre are small and hot, and when temperatures in the summer can stretch easily beyond 35 degrees even at night, getting out for the breeze seems to be the most sensible thing...
Listen to more from Sunday Miscellany here.
