Things I learned on the trip:

[xiphias]

2. How [at least the subset of] People [that I talked to] view Americans

I have friends and family who wear Canadian flags on their backpacks when they go through Europe, and I understand why. I think Europeans have plenty of reasons to be annoyed with Americans. But, Lis and I are Americans, and didn't try to hide it

Comments

[juuro]

"[...] American liberals from perhaps the most liberal state in the United States, it does mean that we're more conservative than most of the people we were talking to [...]"

Thank you!

It has annoyed me with the fury of a dozen damp matches how I see U.S.Atians talk about left-wing this and socialist that in their domestic politics, when all I can see across the pond about most of the Democrats looks rather more like what I know as moderate conservatives, or at the very most radicals, perhaps radical moderates.

[yehoshua]

[T]here are Italians of a certain age who still consider Americans to be "the guys who helped us kick out the Nazis after we got rid of Mussolini".

They also may remember how Il Duce came into power in the first place. He wasn't just a dangerous moron, but he was initially a mind-bogglingly popular moron, sort of like Bush. (I'm always leery of facile parallels, but some of the early rhetoric about national security is resonant)

[xiphias]

I'm sure that, if necessary, I can find a butcher's hook somewhere.

Seriously, of course there are parallels. Mussolini was the guy who wrote the book on how to turn a modern democracy into a fascist dictatorship. Sure, Machiavelli wrote down the basics, but Mussolini was the guy who polished it up. Any other attempt in this time period is going to look a lot like Mussolini's.

[fibro_witch]

Are you sure it was anti American? Italians do not use 'suck' the way we do. Which makes me wonder if the graffiti was written by someone who is a member of Red Sox Nation.

Part of me wanted to say 'wow it's still there' However I did not travel to Italy and did not want to claim credit for something I did not do.

[cheshyre]

Actually, it said "Yankees Go Home" but that was the only generally-anti-American sentiment I saw in graffiti. All the rest was anti-Bush or anti-Iraq-war.