La donna Italiana: timeless like la Loren, mesmerizing like Milva, beautiful like la Bellucci, intelligent like la Montalcini, strong like la Fallaci. Good in the kitchen like all nonne, eternally charming, she knows how to be a leader without forgetting femininity, she is a temptress, but never forgets her evening prayers.

Yes, Italian women are all that: in the world’s collective imagination, that is. As much as I wish, as a proud daughter of Italy, to be all that we are believed to be, reality is much more prosaic and less picture perfect than words. We are more Bridget Jones than Jackie Kennedy, just like girls and women all over the world, although, let me be honest here, there are certain things, among all those stereotypes, that do contain a shred of truth.