11 Things You'll Get Addicted to Living in Italy

3. Warming up with a cioccolata calda.

This drink changes your definition of hot chocolate permanently. Why would I ever want a watery, chocolate-flavored hot drink again? No, no, I want chocolate that is so hot it’s melted to a liquid. And don’t forget the whipped cream.

4. The original coffee culture.

There’s something about the purity of standing at a bar top sipping espresso out of a real cup that American coffee shops and their jumbo, sugar-loaded, coffee-flavored drinks just can’t replicate.

5. Beautiful curse words.

Even when Italians swear, it sounds like they’re singing.

6. Hand gestures

And when a lyrical language like Italian still doesn’t have quite enough expressive power, you always have your hands.

7. Shoes

I’m still in the market for a perfect pair of gold sneakers.

8. Having postcard cities right in your backyard.

Hop on a train and you can spend your weekend floating down the Grand Canal in a touristy gondola or staring in awe at Michelangelo’s Pietà in St. Peter’s Basilica.

9. REAL Gelato

All the American “Italian” restaurants out there really need to stop calling their ice cream “gelato” like it’s going to make their menus look authentic. The real deal isn’t scraped out of a frosty carton at the back of a freezer. It’s served ultra creamy in flavors like pistachio, hazelnut, and stracciatella and then slurped down in a sunny piazza.

10. Focaccia

For when pasta and pizza don’t give you quite enough carbs to get through the day.

11. PDA

When old couples walk down city sidewalks hand in hand and young lovers make out under statues in the middle of public piazzas, you can’t help getting addicted to the Italians’ zest for love and life.