I don't know. Sometimes I get the feeling that the famous thing called Italian Style is seen merely as a label. There is a perception that sees it as something deliberately 'designed'. In reality what people see when they come to Italy has been groomed for many generations and evolved through major historical events and cultural shifts. If one has to set things on touchstones, at the centre of Italian culture is the cuisine, not the hautè cuisine of European refinements but what people eat everyday. Each meal has a ceremonial aspect in the sequence of dishes partaken. It is understood in Italy that agriculture is a necessity that emanates from the varied needs of a civilised lunch: the salumi, the cheeses, the pasta, meats, eggs, vegetables, fruits, sweets, the bread and the wine. The most important spaces, both inside and out, are reserved for these hours of culinary diligence. For some Italian Style is represented by the weather: the warm, sensual summers and mild winters. Above all Italian Style represents the pinnacle of romance; something that puts you in a more amenable, amorous mood.

There is a danger that as the aura of novelty wears off, so do shallow ideas about Italian Style. In order to get to love something, like all else, one has to learn its language.