Does everyone in Italy have a balcony?

[Curdsandwhey]

Or is it just the ones who do who are being filmed performing music? It's just that it's being shown as a norm, like "everyone" is singing to each other.

I'm pretty sure most flats in the UK don't have balconies. I certainly don't have one. I feel like there's this unrealistic message that people spreading, that we just need to wave at each other from our balconies and all will be well and we'll have instant camaraderie.

The vast majority do because there are far less detached or semi detached houses and few housing estates like we have so no gardens.

Is this true even in outer suburbs, or just in city centres?

Yes, lots of flat living & balconies are common.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Saying that, every med holiday apartment I have ever stayed in has a balcony. I have a similar style balcony that is large and covered. I love them - can still stand out on them when it's raining.

I lived in Spain for three years and all homes have balconies. Most Spanish live in apartments in towns and villages but they all have balconies and/or sun roofs.

Yes, it's where they hang their washing.

IME yes - in general it’s a hitter country than the UK and it’s more the norm.

I livved in Spain for 5 years and all apartments had balconies. It's the norm in those countries

Don’t quite a lot of flats and apartments have balconies here? Very few people I know live in flats (we’re in the south west so houses are more affordable than in - for example - London or the south east so flats). The four who do are in central Bristol and all have something, one has a full balcony, one garden flat, one Juliet balcony thing and one roof terrace. Is it very different elsewhere?

On our street (all houses) there is pretty decent camaraderie and community from people standing at their front doors or at a window to speak.

We lived on the 5th (top) floor, large terraces all round. I remember hanging out my washing on my airer and hooked a pair of thongs over one of the arms. Gust of wind blew them of and they landed 3 floors below.Mortified when the lady came up, held them aloft, and asked if they were mine? (all the ladies were 'traditional' in their black shapeless clothes and gathered daily in the courtyard to gossip)
Certainly gave them something to gossip about

@MarinaMarinara In London it's actually council flats that are more likely to have balconies. Private flats with balconies would be really expensive. Or there are some blocks where only the largest flats have balconies but most of the rest don't.

And that's only purpose-built blocks. So bear in mind that a lot of people live in flats in converted houses, the type where a house is converted into four or five flats, so those ones almost never have balconies.

We have a balcony here in the SE, and are very grateful for it right now I can say!!

I’m in London in a relatively newly built flat and I have a balcony.
I think many fairly new flats will have them.
But converted houses probably not. A lot will depend on the building too. An old warehouse building or school for example, being redeveloped into flats, might not be able to have balconies fitted.

I don't have a balcony and neither does anyone in my block, I'm in Spain. We've lived in 3 flats with no balconies since we moved here.

However, we all have access to a huge roof where we hang the washing. Ah, no communal garden either. In no flats I've lived in has there been a communal garden (6 Barcelona flats, 3 where we live now.).

See, that's why I'm getting annoyed. Okay so it's different in other countries, but even British people are just assuming most people have them, or a garden. We don't. Around here, to have a balcony you either need to be a council tenant, or very very rich, or the occasional person who got lucky, and no most new builds don't have them either.

Ah, I hadn’t realised. And the converted house thing makes total sense too. I think I have been exposed to a very limited selection of housing types, but then this is one reason I like Mumsnet - loads of different perspectives. OP - I can see that is frustrating.

In the last decade of Spanish city living I've had a balcony in each of the 4 flats I've hay. Two blocks also had a communal rooftop and current flat (now I own) has a communal garden but we are not allowed to use it now for fear of being reported to the police by horrible neighbours.

We do go and clap on the balcony each night.

I think most flats have balconies in Spain but not all. The old medieval part of my northern town doesn't, although old southern towns do.

I'm extremely grateful for my balcony, but on day 17 of lockdown I'm starting to get very worried about DS6 and his mental health that is give my right arm for a Toby garden right now!

My friend lives in flat in a converted house with no balcony or garden. She has a 6 and 9 year old and both are getting very down at the moment.

I think of her every time I see some sanctimonious person go on a pious rant about how people shouldn't be going outside unless it's essential. Guess what. It's essential for her and her children to go on a bike ride around the park to keep their spirits up a little.

I'm in London lots of friends don't have balconies agree it's not the norm. We have a balcony

Different types of weather

It depends i think. We don't live in Italy, but another European country, I would say it is rare for both apartments and houses to not be built with a balcony.
When we were house hunting in think of maybe 30 houses, only 2 had no balcony (but all houses so had gardens anyway). I think places without would generally be harder to sell or rent. Our house was build 1950s so not 'modern' either

No, they don't. I live in Italy just outside a city centre and we have a small balcony (not big enough for us all to eat on it but ok for a cup of tea!) Our flat was built in the 1960s. In our area the flats without a balcony tend to be older (e.g. historic buildings) or "mansarde" (flats built in attics. Some people have really big balconies/terraces with lots of outdoor space but where we are, most people have small balconies like we do.

converted industrial building here, no balcony one of my neighbours has taken his excersise this morning by running up and down the stairs while whistling a 'happy tune' , I think he ran a marathon!