What do people with celiac disease (so the people who aren't allowed to eat gluten) do in a country that seems to have pizza and pasta as a core part of national identity?
this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2026
45 points (100.0% liked)
Ask Me Anything
3030 readers
1 users here now
Ask Me Anything (AMA) Community Rules and Guidelines
This is the lemmy.ca AmA.
Welcome to the Ask Me Anything (AMA) community! This is a space where individuals from various backgrounds come together to engage in open and informative discussions. To ensure a respectful, enjoyable, and inclusive experience for everyone involved, we have established the following rules and guidelines:
-
Be Civil and Respectful:
- Treat all participants with respect, regardless of their background, expertise, or opinions. Personal attacks, insults, or derogatory language will not be tolerated.
- Engage in constructive conversations, even if you disagree with the person answering the questions. Focus on addressing their responses or providing alternative viewpoints without resorting to hostility.
- Remember that the participants are sharing their knowledge and experiences voluntarily. Appreciate their time and effort.
-
Practice Politeness and Courtesy:
- Use polite and considerate language when asking questions or engaging in discussions.
- Be patient and understanding if the person answering takes time to respond. They may receive a high volume of questions.
- Avoid spamming or repeating the same question multiple times. Give others a chance to ask their questions as well.
-Use NSFW and trigger warning TW in brackets if you talk about sensitive subject.
-
Respect Boundaries and Privacy:
- Do not ask personal or invasive questions unless the participant explicitly invites such queries.
- If a participant declines to answer a question or requests to move on from a topic, respect their boundaries without pressuring them for a response.
- Avoid sharing personal information or disclosing sensitive details about yourself or others.
-
Be Inclusive and Stand Against Discrimination:
- Respect diverse perspectives and backgrounds. Discrimination, including racism, homophobia, and transphobia, will not be tolerated.
- Foster an environment that welcomes individuals of all races, genders, sexual orientations, religions, and identities.
- Be mindful of your language and the potential impact it may have on others. Avoid offensive slurs or derogatory terms.
-
Avoid Spam and Irrelevant Questions:
- Ensure your questions are relevant to the participant's expertise or field of knowledge.
- Avoid posting low-quality or repetitive questions that add little value to the discussion.
- Respect the purpose of the AMA and avoid using it solely for self-promotion or advertising.
-
Engage in Meaningful Discussions:
- Prioritize thought-provoking and insightful questions that foster engaging conversations.
- Be open to different perspectives and use the AMA as an opportunity to learn and broaden your understanding.
- Jokes are allowed as long as they are respectful, appropriate, and do not target or marginalize specific individuals or groups. -If you are sarcastic, we recommend to use /s to be sure there is no confusion about your intention. Fake sarcasm will be found.
Remember, these rules and guidelines are in place to ensure a positive and informative environment for all participants. Failure to comply may result in 3 strikes warnings, temporary restrictions, or permanent bans at the discretion of the moderators.
in the future, a mod check and balance system might be implemented . Subject to change : [You might appeal your ban by contacting a special appointed moderator to judge if the ban was abusive.
Special appointed mod can create jury like conversation with randomly chosen users with jury votes to decide if bans are legit or not.]
Thank you for being a part of the Ask Me Anything (AMA) community. Let's engage in enlightening discussions, share knowledge, and create an inclusive space that values respect and diversity!
Friendly communities :
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Well, actually it's more and more common to see piazza places that caters to celiacs with gluten free products and freshly backed pizzas. One of our favourite pizzeria around us recently renovated and created a dedicated gluten free pizza oven with fully separated workflow. Also, in the bigger town nearby there is a "pasticceria" dedicated to gluten-free sweets (like cakes and such), and the main "focacceria" (place where you buy focaccia, a kind of different pizza but to-go only) has a dedicated gluten free shop next door.
So i would say that Italy has evolved quite a lot and support celiacs pretty well.
I don't know about pasta, but given that in every supermarket the gluten free aisle for pasta is usually well stocked, i guess that should be also available in at least some restaurants...
Wow, that sounds great.
Didn't expect separated pizza-ovens. Clearly shows dedication and I am happy it's possible for celiacs to take part!
Absolutely... I know a few celiacs, and while you need to call ahead and ask if the place is good for gluten intollerants, it's nowadays easy to find a good place to eat.
Italy has a huge incidence of celiac disease. Most children are tested for it.
As a person that also lives in northern Italy, and that have a girlfriend with a series on food intolerances, I can confirm with what OP already said. If you are celiac you can find options now days (obviously much more if you live in a city). If you are lactose intolerant you can also find options (Italy is also a place where lots of cheese is consumed, and many recipes involve some kind of cheese or cream). If you are both at the same time, well that's where problem starts appearing.
If by any chance you also got a vegan in the group well it's better to just cook yourself (obviously exaggerating but still your options of places may be very limited).
All this to say: you can find options now (when I was a kid it was unheard of), either with big restaurants/pizzerias that have a double kitchen, or with dedicated places that are fully gluten free.
interesting celiacs is so common in italy.
There's these little biscuits my italian exchange family used to eat at breakfast that were really good.. They were donut-shaped, about the size of an oreo and a little bit dry but they were so good! Any idea which ones I'm talking about?
Did they have white stars on them? Maybe the Bucaneve from Doria? https://www.doria.it/prodotti-dolci/bucaneve
found them!
Macine! Yeah they are nice with milk, but recently the recepy changed a bit and they don't taste as good.... Enshittification I guess
load more comments
(2 replies)
Do you go hiking? Do you have any favourite areas or refugios to recomend? Any good areas for wild camping where it is tolerated?
I've been doing some fantastic hikes in the Dolemites and Bergamo, would love to do more of it.
I love the places around Val Chisone, Val Pellice and Valli di Lanzo. A bit less renown, but nonetheless beautiful Check out the Rifugio Lago Verde near Prali for example...
I also like Rifugio Città di Ciriè at the Pian della Mussa. You can reach it by car in summer, but you can sleep there and do lots of hikes. For example, you can hike to the top of the Ciamarella, which is a 3900m top. There is a small (highly melting) glacier to cross, but it's really just an hike. No crevasses. The main difficulty is the altitude.
Also, there is a hiking loop i just love in the valley of Prali (inside Val Germanasca, inside Val Chisone) you can actually hike the entire valley starting from Gigo di Prali all around the mountains on the north-east side. You hike up to 2900m first, passing Rifugio LAgo Verde, then following ancient military roads, keep at around 2000-2500m for over 20km until Rocca Bianca, passing the beautiful basin of the 13 lakes on the way. Overall the entire loop is 35km. When i was 25 i did it in 11/12 hours. LAst summer when i was training for a few trail runs, i did it in a about 5h 30min.
Amazing, thank you so much! Will check it out!
I travel to Italy by train pretty often, and it's a shame to pass by northern Italy without stopping for a hike. :)
Happy to share, privately, a track of the itinerary if you ping me.
So you're here in Piemonte then 😉 I'm bookmarking that list for the summer. I've been here 3 years and not hiked as much as I'd have liked. But I've mostly made up for it in cycling and skiing.
Do yourself a favor and visit the Borromean islands on Lago Maggiore...
load more comments
(1 replies)
How accurate was the Family Guy episode where they move to Italy?
Also, whats the Mafia sitch where u @?
I believe i never seen that Family Guy episode, which one is it? i could watch it out of curiosity.
As for the mafia... We lost the war long ago. Mafia (camorra, andrangheta, whatever there are many, you call them) is everywhere specially in the north. The more money, the more mafia. Mafia is also in the government (remember Berlusconi? also our current government is full of mafia related people) but do not think of the mafia from the movies. This mafia is a business organization, they care for stealth and profit, not for public executions and bombings. That was a broken strategy from decades ago, mafia evolved...
Actually, fun fact on mafia, the allies where able to land in Sicily in 1943 because they supported mafia giving money and weapons to overthrown the fascist government, which alway tried to destroy mafia. So we actually have mafia today thanks to the US meddling and winning the war.
Actually, mafia would have come back anyway also under fascism i guess,its more a way of thinking and a way of life, like helping your friends and thrusting your kinfolks. But i am no expert, and this would be a different post anyway.
its the one where family guy vacationed into italy, and ended up living there, because they "fantasized how great it is for to live there":
If you can find the episode number, i can try to locate it and watch it...
Ok, so I have finally watched it, found by sailing the high seas.
So, I never watched family guy before and I am not so sure I like or appreciate the style.
Of course it depicts an italy that's pretty stereotypical, but I think it fits well in the show "style".
I know a few Americans (mostly woman) who moved to Italy and stayed, and they currently enjoy living here much more than in the US, but not for the glamour or the supposedly romanticism, which is absolutely a stereotypical build up. Just for the actual quality of life.
The only part I found offensive was the scene in school, with the big tits teacher. We actually have good schools and good teachers, and that was gratuitous and didn't fit any stereotypes I could think of about Italy from an American point of view, so that felt a bit too much.
The rest, it's ok, even the mafia part and the run down shaggy southern lifestyle, it's fitting stereotypes, so o think it's also funny given the type of show family guy is.
Overall didn't enjoy much, but I guess I don't lime the show much anyway, not because of italy.
isnt that mostly southern italy they were living in, its considered the "south"
What are your thoughts on the recent changes to Italian citizenship by descent laws?
Like a lot of Americans, the thought of leaving this country has crossed my mind on more than a few occasions recently, and I've spent a little time looking into any options I might have to get citizenship elsewhere. Since I have some Italian ancestry, Italy was probably my best bet until the recent changes.
It was a longshot anyway, I don't exactly have 100+ year old Italian birth certificates hanging around to prove that ancestry, so I'm not too broken up about it, but I'm curious how people there feel about those changes.
Well, for what is worth i voted to have the citizenship timeline reduced in the last referendum on the matter.
Currently, you need to be born from italian parents (at least one) to become italian, there is no ius soli (however you write that, i might be italian, but my studies of Latin dates back long ago), but you can marry or civil-marry somebody and get citizenship after some 10 years (IIRC). That referendum was trying to lower that time to 5 years. Which means that you pay taxes, but cannot vote or get a passport for that time. Actually, in some cases you can vote for local elections i think (not 100% sure which ones) but not political, european or state wide elections.
I believe that if you contribute to the country, live here with plans to stay forever (or for a reasonably long time) and elect Italy as your country, you should be allowed citizenship.
Nothing really changes from this perspective. I can tell you that in small places people are not very keen to give cirizenship easily, while in big cities people are more open, like mostly every where i guess.
Anyway, without citizenship you need a "permesso di soggiorno" (permit to stay) which is kind convoluted, annoying and short lived to get. It expires often (yearly?) and it takes months to renew, so you cannot leave the country for big chunks of the year a time, and you get accomunated to "illegals" because well, you are one of them until you get your permesso renewed. I have friends who needs one, and it's kind of annoying. Longer work contracts of study could help with some 3 years long "permesso" but it's hit and miss i am told.
Do you still have income in dollars? How is the cost of living, healthcare, etc? How does retirement work for a foreigner that has Italian citizenship? Thank you.
Dollars? Not even in Liras anymore.
We have euros of course, and I am paid in euros as well. Wages are kind of low... Compared to germany Switzerland and even france, we make less buks for the same job.
But cost of living is also less, so overall.... We are still poorer than many other Europeans... But life is still expensive. We make a good income, and free education, free healthcare and such amnenitoes do compensate.
Retirement is contribution based, so the more you work, the more you save in your retirement (state funded us company fundrd plus yourself funded). You cannot retire before 68 (maybe 70 nowadays) and usually need 40y of work, or maybe 45 nowadays.
Of you are a foreigner, I guess you need your retirement from whatever country you come from.
Anyway you can live with some 25k euros gross per year, but I recommend 50k or more at least. We are above that, but also have two kids four dogs two cars and a nice house (... In the woods)
What do Northern Italians do on April the 28th?
The day of the death of a dictator is something to be celebrated, I think. Given that it was Northern Italians who dealt the final blow that freed Italy, how do they commemorate it?
It's a bit more complex than that.
We celebrate the 25th of April as Freedom Day, we don't celebrate killing people even if they where dictators. Its bad taste.
Also, it seems that more then half of italy still like Mussolini and his legacy so.
Also, north Italy was also the place where the Repubblica di Saló, or the last fascist strongold, was located. So I guess it's not a matter of north and south, rather of fascists and non fascists, which where both equally shared among the country.
So no commemoration, and a bit of second thoughts also on freedom day given how many new fascists ww have. Mind me, they are also pretty ignorant of their own history, so... Go figure.
How is public transport in your area?
In the big city nearby, not that bad. There is a very efficient subway, but too small for the city, and an extensive network of busses.
Tickets are 2€ for 1 hour, with some 40-60€ euro monthly cards, depending if you have discounts.
Outside the city less good, there are suburban busses and train lines, but efficiency is not great. And are much more expensive.
If you need to travel across cities there are busses and trains, often running late but overall quite cheap.
My daughter take the train to go a few towns away for school every day, like 20min each way, the annual students card cost 600€ but covers a pretty wide area outside the big city.
You hiring for DevOps? ;)
Sorry... Not hiring... :)
But DevOps are needed, and I guess you could find a job... Who knows
What do Italians think about the law changing to no longer allow Italian descendants to become Italian citizens?
load more comments
(1 replies)
Vorrei dire 'Ciao'!
Sto provando a imparare italiano, ma so che ci sono molto non lo so. Spero che non ti dispiaccia se provo a parlare italiano
Vorrei leggere libri per bambini e ragazzi per migliorare. Quali libri come questi ti piacciono?
~~Come ti sentono delle persone degli stati uniti? Ho applicato per cittadinanza jure sanguinis, ma ho paura che persone lì non si piacerò. Come ti senti di jure sanguinis, generalmente?~~ (actually I just saw that you already answered this when Fondots asked it, scusami)
Sai qualcosa di scalata in Italia? O delle rocce lì? Vivi in Piemonte, sì? Penso a Finale Ligure - la conosci?
(annnnd because I'm certain I made mistakes, in english)
spoiler
I just want to say 'Hi'!
I'm trying to learn Italian, but I know there's a lot I don't know. I hope you won't mind if I try to speak it :) I'm still a beginner
I would like to read children's books to improve my speaking. Which ones do you like? (Which ones did you like when you were a kid / for your kids?)
~~How do you feel about americans? I applied for citizenship via jure sanguinis, but I'm afraid that people there won't like me. How do you feel about jure sanguinis, in general?~~ (and my apologies if you don't like it or us. I get it)
Do you know anything about rock climbing in Italy? Or the rocks there? I think of Finale Liguria for that - are you familiar with it? Since you live in Piedmont?
Oh and in bocca al lupo per la tua gara! Grazie per il tuo tempo :)
load more comments
(1 replies)
Do you live in the montains or metropolitan? How is the transport like over there?
I live in the countryside nearby metorpolitan area. Transport as in mass transit could be definitely better. It's barely acceptable for students, and that's still not good neough. We would need better and more capillar public transport. Still mostly car-only outside the city.
Roads are not that bad, and traffic is survivable compared to other places like Milan, Rome, Naple and such.
view more: next ›