Italy is one of the most-visited places on earth, with every nook and cranny having been well documented by a multitude of travel writers and photographers. But even after nearly a month here, we regularly encounter people, places, or processes (oh, how the Italians love their inexplicably arcane processes) that surprise or confound us.

Maureen and Cousin Michael embrace their Italian heritage by speaking through hand gestures.

Of course, the biggest stunner was Maureen’s cousin Michael greeting us as we checked into our hotel in Siena. He lives in Sebastapol, just a few dozen miles from our home in Northern California, but we almost never see him there. So why would we ever expect to find him in the lobby of some Tuscan hotel? (Why, that is, besides him being notorious for these magical teleportations into the lives of friends and family around the world?)

Today we’re headed to an Italian dude ranch (podere di bellimbusti?) for a horseback ride, after which we’ll spend a few days doing as little as possible in the beautiful Cinque Terre before saying arrivederci to Italy and Guten Tag to Switzerland. As we head into the home stretch of this phase of our trip, it seems like a good time to review the dozen most unexpected discoveries we’ve made during our time in Italy.

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