On each visit to Italy, it happens. Step onto the streets of Rome or Florence or in this latest case Milan, and you immediately feel like you are dressed like a slob by comparison with the locals. It seems that for every Italian man, whether he is a pensioner or a teenager, the cut of the clothes is always just right, no matter if it’s an Armani suit or jeans. 

I told an Italian relative of my wife’s of my impression that the men of this country would rather go without a car than have mediocre clothes. “Sometimes food too,” he responded, only slightly joking.