“I lost all sight of reason when he looked at me in Italian”. 

We found this quote and we loved it! We can completely visualise its meaning and it got us thinking this Valentine’s Day; is there any truth in the well-known stereotype of Italians being the most passionate of people?

It is certainly true that generally Italian people are culturally very open and friendly, and much more likely to show physical affection in public. In world P.D.A rankings (Public Displays of Affection such as holding hands, embracing, kissing), Italy is among the top of the chart along with Mexico and most of South America. There are some commonalities between those countries at the top of this ranking – maybe it is the sunshine, maybe the language – all of them speaking Latin based languages, commonly referred to as the Romantic languages.

Did you know the word Romance and its meaning even comes from the word Roman (via Gaul/France and their poets of the middle ages writing in Romanz -meaning the old Latin derivative vernacular coming originally from Rome, about chivalrous and gallant knights)?

For Italians even our passionate and articulate language is often not enough to express ourselves fully; exuberant hand gestures are a common part of every conversation. One wonders, do we need the gestures to get across our passion or does the passion come from having gestures as a common part of the language we learn from birth?

And this passion is not just reserved for love and affection. Consider the things Italy is famous for: food, cooking, fashion, design, art, politics, religion, family, opera, even the terrible driving – everything in Italy is approached with gusto, joie de vivre, energy and, of course, passion!

Our passion for food is what drove us to create a full range of Italian hampers suitable for every ccasion, from a birthday to Valentines and Christmas.