The Incredible Shrinking People of Italy

It's been a super holiday season, but it ain't over till the fat lady diets. Fortunately, that's not a problem at my house nor in most of Italy. While clothing sizes in the USA have shrunk to make porky people feel better about their girth, the opposite is happening in the boot of Europe. It's a chic boot, indeed, with pants and pullovers so tiny it's really hard for a tall, skinny Yank to find anything that fits. How extraordinary it is to buy an XL garment that I don't dare wash for fear I'll never get into it again.

After 22 years in Italy I no longer have a clue what size I am in the States. Without losing (or gaining) an ounce I have gone from a size 12 to a size 8 and -- on one memorable shopping day in New York -- even found myself zipped into a pair of size 6 jeans. Here in Todi I can't even find the equivalent of a size 12 and if I were 30 years younger a cropped top would look obscene. Young Italian women are so svelte they spend hours looking for teeny tops and pout if they can't find one that shows off their navel.

Italians have hearty appetites. They consume tons of carbs, don't go out of their way to exercise and eat lots of yogurt simply because they like it. During the year-end holidays, you never hear party guests moaning about having to go on a diet right after the first of January. Instead, dinner table conversations invariably turn to the last excellent restaurant meal or the splendid pasta recipe passed on from a friend in Sicily. Only when the current meal is tacitly rated inferior do Italians stop talking about food. It sure beats chatting about politics or the weather.