Ever since ancient Rome they will have literally developed Western culture, standing firmly of course on the shoulders of Greek culture and Egyptian culture.
There was nothing in Italy that I saw that was ugly, from St Peter's to the Colosseum to the Pantheon, not to mention that Italian fashion is just superb compared to the T-Squares of American fashion.
Once in New York I saw a show of Arte Povera, or poor art from Italy. It was from the '60s. I'm like these are beautiful objects even garbage looks beautiful.
There's kind of a beautiful truth and mastery of design and art, I love Italy and Italian opera of course.