Women in Italy have come a long way in the last 20 years. Like most industrialized nations, they often work full time and have flourishing careers. They compete with men for positions in business. They drive and make big purchases. And more and more of them are remaining single and childless because a husband is no longer a necessity.

But those who do get married – at least in Italy’s south – still tend to have some semblance of domestic goddess left in them. Their homes are their showplaces. Many of them know how to sew. Some of them still crochet doilies for their dining room. There is no dust in traditional Italian homes. And the women often cook like nobody’s business. (Then again, so do many of their husbands because food is a national passion).

In most countries, women set the pace of everyday life – and Italy is no exception. Le mamme bring the kids to school in the morning and then head to work. In the afternoon, everyone returns home for lunch, which lasts for hours. The women quickly cook up a three-course meal that usually includes antipasto, pasta and some form of meat or fish like chicken cutlet or salmon. 

Everyone eats and then the men rest while the women clean up the kitchen. Later in the afternoon, when the kitchen is sparkling, the women rest, too. Just as the children are about to start their homework, the women are off to work again. When they return at about 8 or 9 p.m., they go back to the kitchen to cook dinner, which is usually a simple, light meal.

What I find astounding about these women is that they still do things like knit and sew and iron everything from underwear to sheets. Even with pressure-filled careers, they find time for their children and for themselves. Of course, Italy’s more laid-back offices and government contribute to their ability to do it all. In America, for instance, women don’t get three-hour-long lunches and the lengthy commutes from the office to home usually prohibit people from seeing their kids during the day. Where I am in Ischia, for example, the women can usually get from their jobs to their houses in a matter of minutes.  

That daily schedule probably sounds similar to yours (besides the siesta lunch, of course.) But more Italian women than Americans still take pride in baking and handmade crafts. They’re not satisfied until their homes look like they're ready to be photographed for a design magazine.

Many of them are nesters – and a small part of me relates. Deep down inside of this American feminist beats the heart of the Italian Martha Stewart. She has this burning desire to cook dinners and bake cakes from scratch, choose paint colors and arrange furniture, make babies and raise them. Sometimes it's a shame paying the bills and building a career get in the way of all that. Sometimes, it's a God send. I think just about any Italian woman would agree.