Coping with Italy Withdrawal When You Return Home

Once you've been to Italy, a common illness strikes shortly after your return to the States: Italy Withdrawal.

While there is no sure-fire cure--short of an immediate return to Italia--here are some helpful suggestions for at least masking the symptoms, and minimizing the impact of this potentially crippling illness on your daily life:

1. Begin planning your next trip immediately, booking the airline tickets shortly after you land...and before you re-gain your Yankee common sense.

2. Practice the ability to pull up an amazing mental image from your last trip, whenever you need it most.

3. Drink a cappuccino each day (but never after 11:30 AM!)

4. Buy and begin to ride a motorized scooter, regardless of your age, the weather, or your destination...work, the grocery store, a wedding, it does not matter. For more about the history of the Italian motor scooter, visit this link: The History of Piaggio/Vespa - but for God's sake, be careful. Hit an airport shuttle van once, and that kind of thing really hurts!

5. Read Barzini's "The Italians" and any book by Beppe Severgnini (If it's Beppe, it has to be good!)

6. Eat antipasti at home for dinner

7. Pronounce bruschetta "bru-sKeta" in restaurants, wait to be corrected by eager waiters, and then shame them. It's not SHianti, after all!

8. Study and practice the Italian language

9. Make a beautiful book of your trip photos through Shutterfly or a similar site

10. Visit Rick Steves' travelers' helpline site dedicated exclusively to Italian travel. It's called "To the Boot": Rick Steves' To the Boot

Bonus Strategy (for use in extreme cases, only): adopt an Italian alter-ego. Thus, John from Chicago can become Gio from Italy!