Do Italians hate the English or is it the language barrier?

I can guarantee that doesn't work. Trying to explain around Europe that Wales is not part of England is very, very difficult.

I'm also a bit puzzled by this. I've always had very good service in Italy, definitely much better than the other European country where I live and speak the language fluently.

Where I live has 'different' customer service and somebody barely speaking to me and not smiling can be quite normal and not meant maliciously so one possibility is just that OP is a bit sensitive.

Be honest you have said the following

“SPEAK ENGLISH!!??”
”ENGLISH!!”

”YOU WOULD HAV TO SPEAK ENGLISH IN ARE CUNTRY!!!””

”HANDS OFF ARE ROCK GIBRALTAR!!”

Been to Italy many times. My daughter lived there and speaks fluent Italian. Mine is basic, but I definitely try. Never had an issue with rude Italians, apart from the odd one.
I have found them friendly and welcoming.

DH says it is because England tried to take over the world and treated indigenous populations abominably in the process.

well if the Spanish or Italians want to judge us on that basis it’s a bit rich 😂

I agree with this. I lived in Germany for many years, and if I had a euro for every time someone told me that 'English beat German by one vote to be the official language of the US', I'd have, well, an awful lot of euros. I've just googled to see where this massively popular but untrue urban legend comes from, and it actually has a name (according to Wikipedia anyway), the 'Muhlenberg legend', if anyone wants to read about it!

I remember once, a long time ago, chatting to this man from the Netherlands, whose English was so good he pretty well sounded like a native speaker, but was moaning about how unfair it was that native English speakers had privilege over everyone else who had to learn it as a foreign language. I pointed out that it was a bit daft for a white, straight, able-bodied man who had all the advantages of growing up in one of the richest and most developed countries in the world to be complaining about unearned privilege, but he had a real bee in his bonnet about it.

That was the thinking, about a hundred years ago.

Me and my husband are just back from a week in Italy. Before we went my husband got the Babbel app. He somehow thought he would be paying a few pounds a month for it but it took the yearly price out all at once so he decided he would have to get his money's worth and he studied hard for a couple of months. I was sceptical but it was actually really lovely. He tried really hard and spoke Italian to everyone and mostly people responded very nicely. He had lots of laughs and back slapping and help when he got things slightly wrong. I could tell that the atmosphere warmed up when we were trying. I was a bit fish out of water but did my best too. Where we were it was incredibly busy with all nationalities and I could see how difficult it must be for the workers, pretty relentless really. I'm a good watcher and I wouldnt say any nationalities were treated any better or worse.

This is true, and there are currently countries live at it today and they aren’t European. It’s a nonsense to keep banging on about the British Empire as though it’s a live issue.

I mean, we definitely were colonisers and empire builders, just not the only ones at it.

Sorry, while I still have a bee in my bonnet. This idea that ‘White Europeans’ are empire builders and colonisers. I am sure that the people of Tibet would have something to say about the Chinese, for a start.

Try Romania. They are friendly, better value for money, less tourists but some fantastic historic sites from Ottaman Empire, parts were in Austria Hungarian Empire so high cultural attractions, fantastic scenery and they have no problem with the English, or if you really want to be welcomed as English person then North Macedonia is the place to go.

I’m sure Mediterranean white Europeans are more than happy to get off the hook and class themselves as ‘Black and Minority Ethnic’ in America to duck the blows.

Ahh possibly! Still mad though.

Yes I think it is because indigenous people from South America speak Spanish and are called ‘Hispanic’ people - so Americans conclude that Spanish people are also indigenous South Americans, not white colonisers?

But you get rude people in our service industry, who are probably rude to Italians at some stage. Do Italians then think all English people hate Italians.

I wonder if that posters FIL is American. There is some sort of mad movement in some parts of the US over there that codes Southern Europeans as "not white", somehow completely ignoring the fact that a. They are white and b. Italy, Spain and Portugal all committed awful colonial atrocities in Central and South America, Asia and Africa.

This is it, isn’t it? The ‘English’ language has very few Indigenous words in it. We have Latin rooted words from our time as a colony of the Roman Empire, we have Germanic words from the Saxons and the Vikings, the Norman invasion put a layer of French over it.

Ha ha, the idea that we are hated on for having an empire by the fucking Spanish and French of all people is wild!

Also last time the Italians had an empire we British ended up as their slaves.

Is your husband one of those people who thinks that only the British ever had an empire?

I think this is the crux of it, isn’t it? The French hate the fact that our ugly language is taking over and mandated that their radios have to play French language songs to stop the spread, some Germans I know told me there was a vote in America whether to speak English or German- English won by ‘one vote’ - it sounds implausible to me, but that’s what they think. People from many other nationalities hugely resent that our language, the English language, has become the ‘International’ language, not theirs, not Esperato or whatever. And these sour grapes justify them being horrible to us, and there’s no way English people will ever stop getting shit for it.

I’ve noticed that Italians, like the English, like a laugh and a bit of banter. It’s often surprised me that I’m having a laugh with someone with a language barrier. I know that Italians can be rude when they are in ‘work mode’ - many, especially younger Italians, seem to openly resent having their freedom restricted in order to earn a wage, but socialising, people tend to be really friendly and fun IME.

Riiiiight, because obviously Spain never 'tried to take over the world' and never treated indigenous populations appallingly. It's just a total coincidence that such a huge part of South and Latin America speaks Spanish. 🙄Is your husband one of those people who thinks that only the British ever had an empire?

If if a waiter really did treat you in such a rude and obnoxious manner, that's on him. That's a disgusting way for anyone to behave, and I don't get why you need to make excuses for it and try to find some way of blaming yourself. I've met Spanish-speaking people here in England whose English is minimal. One man asked me for directions to the nearest supermarket or grocery shop by saying 'Where...milk?' I just showed him where he needed to go. It would never in a million years have occurred to me to be angry with him for speaking such basic English or to shout the correct sentence at him. I once had a young French woman asking me for directions in a suburb of Manchester, in French. She made no effort at all to speak English or even to ask me if I knew any French (I do, as it happens).

Edited to add a word.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

everyone loves us.

Are you in South Tyrol OP? I lived in other parts of Italy for many years and only met about 2 Italians who spoke fluent German, both were teachers.

I have never experienced anything like this in Italy. Infact, I’d go as far to say that they love me!
We're always smiling and friendly to them and they in turn have always shown us great hospitality. It’s the German’s I’ve experienced getting a hard time.
We always dress well in Italy , so we blend in.