On the other hand, some things we take for granted in the U.S. are difficult to find in Italy. Although water running from the tap is drinkable, most people continue to buy bottled mineral water, a tradition cultivated in the past when the water may not have been so healthful. Bottled water is a common part of any restaurant's menu, shades of the future in Florida where this necessity of life is becoming dearer each year. In spite of information to the contrary, much is intense in Italy. A central problem appears to be overpopulation in urban areas.
Living is confined to high-rise apartments.
Zoning is strict, not to protect property values or aesthetics, but to maximize agricultural land. Places to live on a temporary basis are not easy to find and are very expensive. Agriculture is also intense, especially in the Po River Valley, which begins in the Alps and runs to the Adriatic. Not a speck of land is left unused. By U.S. standards, the fields are small, but in aggregate vie with anything one might see in California's San Joaquin Valley or the grain fields of Kansas.