Ciao, America!: An Italian Discovers the U.S.

by Beppe Severgnini, Giles Watson (Translator)

In the wry but affectionate tradition of Bill Bryson, Ciao, America! is a delightful look at America through the eyes of a fiercely funny guest—one of Italy’s favorite authors who spent a year in Washington, D.C.

When Beppe Severgnini and his wife rented a creaky house in Georgetown they were determined to see if they could adapt to a full four seasons in a country obsessed with ice cubes, air-conditioning, recliner chairs, and, of all things, after-dinner cappuccinos. From their first encounters with cryptic rental listings to their back-to-Europe yard sale twelve months later, Beppe explores this foreign land with the self-described patience of a mildly inappropriate beachcomber, holding up a mirror to America’s signature manners and mores. Succumbing to his surroundings day by day, he and his wife find themselves developing a taste for Klondike bars and Samuel Adams beer, and even that most peculiar of American institutions—the pancake house.

The realtor who waves a perfect bye-bye, the overzealous mattress salesman who bounces from bed to bed, and the plumber named Marx who deals in illegally powerful showerheads are just a few of the better-than-fiction characters the Severgninis encounter while foraging for clues to the real America. A trip to the computer store proves just as revealing as D.C.’s Fourth of July celebration, as do boisterous waiters angling for tips and no-parking signs crammed with a dozen lines of fine print.

By the end of his visit, Severgnini has come to grips with life in these United States—and written a charming, laugh-out-loud tribute.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Memoir, Humor, Italy, Italian Literature, Cultural

242 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Giuseppe "Beppe" Severgnini (born December 26, 1956) is an Italian journalist, writer and columnist.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first adult-level book I’ve ever completed in Italian, so I’m sure I missed some of the subtleties and the humor, but I chose to read it because 1) an Italian friend gave it to me and 2) because I’ve just completed the inverse of Severgnini’s premise: my first year as an American in Italy.

The book is light and episodic. Italians will find it funny that Americans keep their buildings as cold as a refrigerator in the summer, and that Italians like to complain about it. Severgnini is fascinated with shopping in large grocery stores, American familiarity in manners, e-mail, and of course, fast food. He laughs at the excesses of “political correctness,” circa 1994. He thinks that his Italian name is too difficult for American marketers to spell, not realizing that they can’t spell any kind of name. And I smiled when I got to the part in which Severgnini took friends to a 4th of July celebration in Washington DC–complete with a well-planned meal, a wicker basket, and summer white linen outfits–and wondered by they were getting stared at.

But a lot of what Severgnini recounts in this book is peculiar to the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC in 1994, where and when he was a foreign correspondent. It often reads more like blog posts for the crowd back home than like a true probing of the American spirit. The chapters are vignettes, now dated. Towards the end, he does try for a few pages to seriously assess what Americans are like, he comes up with five English words: Control, Comfort, Competition, Community & Choreography.

Okay. But more telling, to me, was a quote near the beginning of the book:

Per gli italiani che arrivano negli Stati Uniti, la soddisfazione non e’ vedere un film sei mesi prima che arrivi in Italia, scegliere fra cinquanta marche di corn-flakes e leggere due chili di giornale la domenica mattina. Cio’ che ci rende felici e’ combattere con la burocrazia americana. It motivo? Allenati a trattare con quella italiana, ci sentiamo come un torero che deve affrontare una mucca. Una faccenda deliziosamente rilassante.

My rough translation, since I don’t have the English version:

For Italians who arrive in the United States, the greatest satisfaction doesn’t come from seeing a film six months before it arrives in Italy, choosing among fifty types of Corn-Flakes, and reading a two-kilo newspaper on Sunday mornings. What makes us happy is combatting American bureaucracy. Why? Because, being used to the Italian kind, we feel like a bullfighter facing a milk cow. It’s a deliciously relaxing undertaking.

I hear you, Beppe. Maybe one day I’ll be able to take Torino by the horns. But for now, if wanting to fathom the basics of life in Italy makes me an American control freak, so be it. I’ll give you all the movies, Corn-Flakes, and newspapers you want in exchange–and the thermostat, too.

[Jennifer Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

After living in Naples for three years, the first couple of chapters of this book made me laugh out loud, read parts aloud to my husband, and then laugh again with him. As Joe put it "It's like the inverse of every conversation we had moving there." He's amazed at how easy it is to set up a phone line - only funny if you've waited months and eventually bribed somebody to get yours hooked up. He comments that watching Americans stay in their lanes and drive the speed limit on the highway is "surreal" - extra funny if you have risked your life on the autostrada.

Unfortunately, after the initial move-in essays, he really lost me. The book drags, it's incredibly dated (which isn't exactly his fault. Writing a book in the nineties about technology-obsessed Americans is going to get dated quick.), it's just not as fun as I was expecting. I didn't finish it.

[Virginia Milletti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il libro, sebbene in alcune osservazioni sia ormai vecchio, è stato scritto nel 1995, nel complesso, rimane molto attuale. Posso affermare con assoluta sincerità che più del 70% delle affermazioni, osservazioni e riflessioni, sono le stesse che sto facendo io che sto trascorrendo un anno negli Stati Uniti. La prosa è scorrevole e non manca di ironia sia verso gli americani e il loro stile di vita, che gli stessi italiani all'estero, e non solo.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recommend this book for anyone who wants some insight into how someone from another culture views some aspects of our everyday life. It is a very funny book. However, it is a bit dated, since it was written in 1995.

[Susan H · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I was going to like this book more than I actually liked it.

The quick description of the book made it sound like it was going to be cute and funny. I found it to be neither of the two.

The author describes his one year stay in America (in 1994) while he stayed in the Georgetown section of DC. That’s it. Can you really say that’s “America”? I think I just expected way more than the book offered. I felt he was very pretentious and judgmental. I often thought about not finishing the book, but I did with the hope of it getting better.

There are sometimes I’ve not liked a book and stuck with it until the end with the hopes there might be something to change my mind about the story. Quite a few times a book’s later chapters have swung my opinion to change, this was not one of those books.

[Eden · Rating 3 out of 5]

2020 bk 10. This is a reprint of an even older book. Around 1995, Beppe Severgnini and his wife move to Washington, D. C. for a year. This is an essay on life in the United States as compared to Italy at that time period. As a reader, it was interesting to look back at those years in this country. Severgnini made several predictions, some of which came true, some of which did not. He leaves tantilizing hints that this wasn't his first trip to the States, and never quite seems to realize that if he had lived in other locations, his life would have been very different. Reading his book made me realize how different life is in a small town with connections to a good size city is from life in the capital of the country/Georgetown. When he returns five years later to visit what had been his area, the owners of the home he had rented refuse to let him in and he feels that Americans have lost their easy smiles, and this was before 911. This is the kind of book that makes me wish he had returned to the United States to live somewhere in the middle of the country. If you want a look back at one time and one place, this is a good place to start.

[Maureen Grigsby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather entertaining view of Americans from an Italian man who lived in Georgetown for a year with his family. His observations of American customs was quite amusing and dead on.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light read and fun.

[Sara Booklover · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un libro molto carino e divertente, adatto a tutti coloro che vorrebbero andare negli Stati Uniti e che sognano davanti ai loro telefilm. Certo, il libro è del '95 e le parti riguardanti la tecnologia informatica sono ormai superatissime anche qui in Italia e non si può fare a meno di sorridere di fronte (ad esempio) all'incredulità di Severgnini davanti a chi fa shopping online (io ne fatto ormai così tanto che mi è venuto a noia...) e a chi scrive sui Social Network (abitudine quotidiana della maggioranza della popolazione mondiale...).
Però a parte la tecnologia superata ci sono altre informazioni interessanti.
Però una pecca c'è... perché Severgnini si è scelto per il suo soggiorno di un anno negli USA una casetta così "poco americana"? Trovo totalmente errato che gli italiani in america si trovano più a loro agio in una casa piccola che gli ricordi l'Italia. Io avrei preferito mille volte che mi descrivesse una di quelle ENORMI case indipendenti e a schiera della periferia che si vedono sempre alla tv, mi sono sempre chiesta cosa si provi a vivere lì dentro, altro che cucine piccole e inospitali e bagnetti microscopici, di quelle ne ho viste e vissute già in abbondanza, senza bisogno di fare un viaggio oltreoceano!!!

[Callie S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leggere Severgnini è, per me, l’occasione di ricordare ogni volta come possa intrattenersi con intelligenza un lettore e conquistarlo grazie a una penna agile, arguta, mai eccessiva e prossima, anzi, alla precisione chirurgica del bisturi.
Severgnini racconta, ma soprattutto interpreta, l’America degli anni Novanta; lo fa con l’arguzia irriverente del terzo osservatore, senza presunzioni di stampo sociologico. Ne viene una cronaca di vita appassionante e anche un godibile documentario letterario, di quelli in cui vizi e virtù, sebbene messi a nudo, non suggeriscono mai il desiderio di umiliare o ferire l’oggetto dell’analisi.
Raggiunta l’ultima pagina, soprattutto, lascia una gran voglia di partire e provare l’esperienza sul campo.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

So fascinating to see America through the eyes of a foreigner living here. Having lived overseas, I thought I had a broader perspective on life in the States, but I'm still an American, so I apparently can't totally remove myself from the picture. I think the author basically likes American culture, but sometimes it was a little hard to tell. Excellent read, if you can handle having our great country's lesser points highlighted at times.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read-- Severgnini aims to be an Italian Bill Bryson, and loves to show the quirks he sees in American life. Some I agree with, some I don't. Just because we're different from Italians or English, doesn't necessarily mean we're the quirky ones.

Fun to read about Washington, though-- the city of my birth and the city where javaczuk and I married.

[Michael Martin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dated, rather mean-spirited, and DEFINITELY not very funny.

Be prepared for all kinds of inaccuracies (Wolfman Jack in American Graffiti is "Lone Wolf"? Really?). Some nasty references to black areas of Washington D.C. as "Chocolate City" lowered my rating of this book to one star. It needed an American editor.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book about the experience of an Italian man living in the U.S. Great insights into his own culture and that of America.

[Becca Darling]

After graduation my love affair with Italy continues. This is not the Italian version, as I don't think I could make heads or tails... But I'm loving it so far!

[Mickey · Rating 5 out of 5]

My process for selecting books to read has always been haphazard and arbitrary. It generally involves wandering around the library (or if fortunes are flush, the used book store) and waiting for books that present themselves to me. I figure that this is the way the literary gods speak, so I try my best to listen. This doesn’t mean that I don’t set specific goals. In 2011, I was alternating novels of George Eliot with novels of Margaret Atwood. 2012 was the year I tried to read more books of essays and more science books. 2013 more works by journalists. 2014 was for self-help books. 2015 was for short stories, but I don’t think I read any. 2016 hasn’t had any plan, but I’ve been reading a lot of autobiographies and memoirs. But through this loose method, I have read two books that have similar tales but opposing narratives. The first, As the Romans Do: An American Family's Italian Odyssey, is a memoir of an American who goes to live in Rome. This book Ciao, America!: An Italian Discovers the U.S. is about an Italian who goes to live in America.

This happy coincidence allows for some good compare and contrast. Both agree about the state of jogging (Americans being enthusiasts and Italians being puzzled), the differing nature and celebrations of Christmas, the habit of Americans being job and job title obsessed, the world-wide obsession with professional soccer with America being an exception. The one area in which they contradict each other is in the area of children. Both accuse the other culture of being too permissive and fawning over children, allowing them to run amok publicly.

This memoir is about an Italian family who lives in Georgetown for a year (from spring 1994 to spring 1995). Looking over the reviews, there is the common complaint that living in Georgetown at any time would not give a foreigner an accurate picture of America. I disagree. As big as the United States is, a family could spend a year traveling and still not visit every area of interest, and we would get a memoir of mostly gas stations, restaurants, and motels. (All of which, as the author says, are standardized in America to a degree that would be unthinkable in Europe.) The traveling family would only meet tourists and then, only briefly. In Georgetown (which I haven’t seen anyone make a case for being different than any other suburb), they have a chance to be part of an American community and to make observations about the home life of Americans. I do not know if Severgnini has written about his other, previous trips to America, in which he stated that he made several lengthy tours around the country with various other family members, but I find nothing missing from this memoir.

Another complaint that I’ve seen is the idea that this book is “out-dated”, because it is about the mid-1990’s. (The other book is also tagged with this.) I just don’t see the problem in this. These are not travel books. Their intent is not to help you navigate through the streets or find a restaurant. Honestly, since they are from another time period, I find them more interesting, not less. Living in Raleigh, North Carolina, I can get in my car and be in Washington D.C. in a few hours. But I cannot visit Washington D.C. circa mid-1990’s. I have to read to experience that. Severgnini talks a lot about the culture of that time. For instance, the first conservative House of Representatives in recent history, the Grunge look, talk radio, newspapers. There is even a quaint section about online shopping in its earliest years. There are some nostalgia-producing moments, like when he claims that it is easier to call someone than to contact them online.

What this book offers is a chance to look at how Americans are perceived by those living among us. Severgnini writes with an affectionate and observant air of the various American quirks. Some I’ve heard about (Americans come off as so friendly that they confuse people, Americans share intimate details too readily, Americans over-air-condition public places), some were new to me, such as Americans putting ice in their drinks being considered strange:

This is how the modern version works. You go in. A young waiter (usually the one at the bottom of the pecking order) sneaks up behind you and pounces, thrusting a bucket full of ice and water onto your table. Let’s say you manage to persuade your tormentor to take the offending item away. A minute later a second bucket bearer will try again (refusing to believe that a customer doesn’t want a free drink). You repulse him as well. Two minutes later the head waiter will notice that yours is the only table in the restaurant without a bucket of iced water. Convinced that you are being deprived of something that you are entitled to, he sorts out the problem personally. Head bowed, you accept defeat. You don’t drink any, of course-that would be to risk a devastating attack of colitis. But you resign yourself to thinking of it as an insurance policy. After all, you’ll be left alone now. (pg 67)

Severgnini has done his homework. There are many references to other travelers who have written about staying in America and the Americans. This adds so much depth to his book. But there is also the lovely way he has with words that makes this memoir memorable. I enjoyed his point of view and his sharp eye. There were several times that I laughed out loud at the way he phrases things, such as this story about garbage day in Georgetown:

The arbiters of our fate are the operatives of the sanitation department. Generally, these are muscular young black men who arrive clinging onto the decrepit garage truck that pumps out earsplitting rap music. Most sport handkerchiefs tied pirate-style around their heads. They jump down from the still-moving truck, exchange a few guttural syllables, and examine our heap of bags with a skeptical air. Anxious eyes watch from every window. Everyone is hoping to be the lucky one today. In the end, the pirate crew throws a few bags onto the garbage truck and leaves the rest. After they are gone, the street is covered with plastic bottles and cans, and looks as if a bomb has hit it.

As soon as the Tyrants of Trash have departed, professors, lawyers, journalists, and members of Congress emerge from the houses of Thirty-fourth Street to debate the following topic. What was their criterion for selection? How can we satisfy the aesthetic demands of the pirates? After six months, some conclusions appear inevitable.

a) The pirates have a thorough knowledge of the city garbage regulations. Anyone who puts glass in a black bag (it should go in the blue ones, along with plastic and aluminum), or paper in the white bags (its proper place is in the green boxes), is immediately disqualified.
b) The pirates are cunning. They know that the heavier black bags will contain grass, leaves, and earth, for whose removal a special pickup service should be called.
c) The pirates are well aware of their own bargaining power. They know that Thirty-fourth Street is populated by cowards, and that no one is ever going to come out to complain.
d) The pirates don’t want to work. (pg 99-100)


This novel is entertaining and interesting. It has startling fresh imagery and an unusual perspective (for Americans at least).

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is laugh out loud funny. Mr Severgnini lived in Georgetown, D.C. for a year. This book chronicles that year, April 1994 - March 1995. Some of his observations are clear to anyone who lives in the US or has traveled abroad. I lived in the DC area a decade before Mr Severgnini, and the things he wrote about were true then. I suspect some of them are still true.

The first of which is how to find suitable housing. Inconvenient housing at that, compared to the Italian style. Furnished apartments were direct reflections of their owners waiting to turn their unsuspecting renters into trophies or victims from a horror film.

The part of American life Mr Severgnini found overwhelming included the large, indoor shopping malls with all the demands to "buy, buy, buy" whether you need it or not, and more significantly the 24-hour news cycle. Not much changes between regular news broadcasts, but the constant barrage of repeated news can put even the most grounded person into a state of overload.

It was nice reading about the quirks of the USA from the perspective of an Italian. His views of our national holidays, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, shine a light on tradition and the things we do to preserve it. In particular the gathering around the National Mall to observe Independence Day, complete with concerts, the struggle to find a parking spot, or a suitable place to view the fireworks. He and his Italian visitors could have taken the Metro, but it doesn't run in Georgetown.

One thing is true, whether moving across the globe or across town. Find the people who have made the move you've made. Let them help you acclimate, be they college students, long time residents, or other expats. Have fun. Embrace the new adventure. Before you know it, it won't be new anymore.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Mr Severgnini's story reminded me what it was like to move to the D.C. area. Although I took many things for granted, I could relate to his stories and the strangeness of moving to a new town.

[Valentina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an entertaining view of Americans from an Italian man who, in the middle of the ‘90s, had a work assignment in Georgetown for one year and brought his family along. The author makes fun of the American system and American life. He thinks Americans are too controlled, polite, politically correct and that dealing with the bureaucracy, on the contrary of the Italian bureaucracy is the easiest thing, like a toreador fighting a milk cow. As an Italian born, living in America, I can say that often the observations of foreigners about American life and customs are more complaints than observations. I say: "different latitude, different attitude"- take it the way it is and try to understand instead of tearing it down. For instance, the ice in the drinks, I always ask “no ice please” and my request is satisfied. Beppe had to ask many times not to bring a drink full of ice because the service people didn't understand the request of no ice. Maybe it is a bit of an exaggeration just to make a point. However, he is very amusing describing his experiences, such as air conditioning is too high everywhere, too much comfort at home, in the car, and Americans expect the same level of comfort when they travel, It's all true, but I still think the whole book sounds like a complaint. Never compare countries and customs.

[Barbara Mahoney · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining look at American customs and our way of life through the eyes of an Italian. Beppe and his wife move to Washington DC for a year. His story is a reflection on the year he spent in the US including anecdotes re: the differences in culture and customs. As an American, it was interesting to see our country through the eyes of someone from Italy.

I did laugh at some of his anecdotes i.e. Americans love ice (I know in Europe they don't use ice the way we do), how many options exist in our stores & shopping malls, and how big a celebration we have for July 4th (in England it is certainly not a holiday!).

The book was originally published in 1995 so it is a bit dated. The sections on computer technology, fashion trends, and politics were out of date.

I would read another book by this author. I understand he wrote a book re: Italians as seen through the eyes of tourists. I'd like to read it.

[Bria · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's kind of astonishing how irrelevant this has become in 25 years. Almost everything Severgnini talks about is more or less completely obsolete, as it relates to telephones, newspapers, TV, shopping, and the internet, which are all different beasts now. As such it's quite hard to tell what of it is particular to America, what's still relevant, what just hadn't penetrated into Europe yet. Much of the non-technology connected things still don't seem quite right to me, so I don't know if that's something that's also time-dependent, or maybe just based on differences around the country. I imagine some amount of the exhausting customer service and advertisements have spread, although I don't know to what extent. I suppose this means it's a little bit educational about the past as well as America, but its irrelevance was a bit disappointing. Should have read it a few decades ago!

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Italian goes to America and writes about culture clash. This was an interesting and possibly formative look into how America is viewed by other countries. That is always good to know, because seeing the country you live in as the default will lead to trouble. Although the author did go to a suburb of DC, which even though it’s close to the capital, isn’t the real America. But then again, my country’s so big I don’t know where the real America is. Omaha, Nebraska?

The humor is kind of dated, which is expected for a book from the nineties. Some of the idiosyncratic nineties quirks were as alien to me as they were to the author. And I can’t remember my favorite funny parts for this review. I still remember liking this book when I read it, thinking it was a pretty good exploration of cultural differences, expressed through humor.

[Virginia Morelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Molti italiani ritengono che la « vera vacanza americana » imponga il noleggio di un camper, e un per corso da camionista: diecimila chilometri in un mese, soste brevi, e una collezione di Stati attraversati. Il camper - gli americani parlano di motorhomes o di RVs , recreational vehicles - appare il mezzo ideale per visitare un paese grande come un continente, riducendo al minimo i contatti con portieri / camerieri / addetti al ricevimento, la maggior parte dei quali ha il difetto di parlare soltanto inglese e, come dimostrano i film di Wim Wenders, è scarsamente interessata a fare la conoscenza di famiglie di Bologna in vacanza."

Mio dio, ma parla di me

[Tarmapas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leggere questo libri nel 2024 è come fare un viaggio nel tempo. Le pagine in cui viene decretato che i giornali online avranno vita breve perché "quanta gente, per sapere se pioverà in California, è disposta a scrivere https://sfgate... sulla tastiera del computer?" strappano un sorriso e provocano un senso di meraviglia. Eppure lo stesso libro può farci riflettere su come certi stereotipi sugli americani resistano bene ai segni del tempo. Scatenando altrettanti sorrisi e un po' meno meraviglia.

[David Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this as an American in 2025 was a weird experience. I got to pretend to be seeing the country from the perspective of a visiting Italian, but also as a time-traveler to the past. It isn't surprising that even when it was written, Severgnini makes some of the same complaints about America and it's people that you still hear today, but he seems to spend most of the time defending America and complaining about his own heritage instead. Either way, his wit should override any offense a sensitive reader may take.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Severgnini wrote this book illuminating many of Americans’ quirky cultural behaviors over a year he and his family spent living in Washington, DC’s iconic Georgetown neighborhood. His observations range from funny and insightful to cranky, as he compares our foibles with those of his Italian neighbors.
Ciao, America is written as a series of short insightful articles & is best enjoyed reading the same way, making it the ideal bathroom companion book. Enjoy!

[Tamara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very entertaining! The book is a lovely representation of how silly Americans can appear to the eyes of a European. And then, when that European is a silly Italian, things are doubly funny. Given that the book was published in 1995, it is interesting to compare how things have developed since. His description of Americans' craze for technological development and accumulating gadgets is very insightful. A total pleasure of a read.

[Charlotte Dudley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beppe lived in DC for a year in the early 90's and wrote these rather charming observations of American culture. This was before September 11, Katrina, January 6, Covid, Trumpism, and the weaponization of disinformation. He said that children enjoy "absolute impunity" in America and wondered if one of these "unruly despots" would eventually make it to the White House!

[Matthew Dambro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining essay on American culture in the mid 90s by an Italian journalist who lived for ten months in Georgetown in the District of Columbia. It does not compare favorably with his work on Italian culture. It was amusing and in some parts very perceptive.

[Darla Ebert · Rating 5 out of 5]

So detailed and hilarious. This Italian author has definitely studied Americans and the American way of life. His observations are not only spot on and clever but laughter-inducing at every turn. Loved it!

[Nicola · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great journalist, mediocre book. As an Italian who’s lived in the States for 13 years, this book offers not only a shallow depiction of America; but it’s often wrong, and because it’s wrong - it’s not as funny as intended.