Exposure

Exposure. That’s the key difference Stefano Minoli, 21, points out when talking about Americans and Italians. Sitting in a chair wearing his skintight (by an American perspective) designer jeans, loafers, and designer rugby; Minoli doesn’t point out exposure to fashion or culture, but rather, exposure to alcohol.

Minoli moved to Florence at the end of his senior year in high school. He grew up with an American mother and an Italian father. Minoli learned a thing or two about the differences between Italians and Americans, while hopping back and forth between Europe and the United States his entire life.

Minoli, a marketing director for Flying Dutchman Productions, says the key difference in American teenagers is binge drinking: “I think because of the prohibitionist mentality in the United States, young Americans tend to drink excessively every time they are at a party, bar that serves underage, or in a foreign country”.

He says the difference in Italian teens is that: “Italians are used to drinking and don’t think every time they come in contact with alcohol they have to drink a lot of it, because God knows they’ll see it again”.

Although Minoli has seen what appears to be a million drunken rages at 4 a.m. in the narrow streets of Florence, he agrees that sending American students abroad is a wonderful thing. It creates what Minoli thinks is essential: exposure.