Living la vita Britaliana

“The Italian” is often what I’m referred to in the UK.

“Sei così British! [You’re so British]” my colleagues here in Italy often say, rather bemused.

Growing up in a European School I was raised to love Europe and feel European. But with the school’s distinct language sections and my father and mother’s families living in very different places, the two sides of the coin have nevertheless always been just that: two different sides of the same coin that makes me, well – me.

They are different yet deeply intertwined to make me who I am today. Growing up in the UK with friends that were all also half something, half something else or had grown up in different places, picking up languages and cultures along the way, it seemed normal to me for everyone to have a unique background and story that transcended borders. When I was at school being “fully British” (whatever that even means anyway) felt like a foreign concept in itself.

But as you get older you realise being defined as one or the other really does matter to people.

At school I was “the Italian” because I was the only student in the Italian section. Fair enough. But after, when I left the sheltered European School environment, it was because I wasn’t “fully British”. Which isn’t how I feel anyway, so it’s fine; it’s no insult but it does put me in no man’s land a little bit because here in Italy I’m not considered Italian either.

At uni my friends used to tease me calling me ‘fake Italian’ because I wasn’t Italian enough, partly because my spoken English is characterised by what many consider to be a stereotypical British accent and partly because I was born in the UK, not Italy.

Expressing my lingering annoyance at this ongoing identity crisis to my aunt, one day when I was in Venice recently, she replied: “You’re neither, because you’re both.”

Identity crisis aside, being neither but from both does have its advantages. I am blessed with something that – outside the European School community – many people are jealous of: being bilingual.

It also means you get the best of both worlds, with aspects of each culture adding to or balancing out aspects of the other. The Italian cooking tips and tricks are great and all, but what really makes me me is the characteristics that define my character. Expressing emotions honestly and unabashedly is the Italian way, and that fire burns in me always and cancels out the unhealthy British bottle-everything-up attitude. But I have been raised to hold dear the importance of manners and politeness that is often associated with the UK, which at times here in Italy I have found to be lacking.

At the end of the day all the noise on who you are doesn’t matter. I can talk to you about current affairs in Italian and/or in English whilst making you a delectable bowl of pasta or cooked breakfast and that’s what makes a Francesca and a McClimont.