It's not just the hair and the liquid brown eyes, it's the language. Anything sounds better in Italian, whether it's words of love or the phone book. The movie "Under the Tuscan Sun" wasn't very good, but the scenery, the food, and the people were gorgeous -- I realized that all of the prejudice against Italians (read 19th and early 20th C novels if you forgot it existed) was really just jealousy.

Oh, yes, indeed. You are very right. As I was watching Italy play in its final two games of the World Cup, I couldn't get over the ... well, everything, really. Last year, my then 10 yo son was supposed to pick a professional team (he chose Juventus, for whom Zambrotta plays) and had to follow the team and a player in his position, at that time midfield. We looked around the Juventus team roster trying to figure who that would be and what do you know? Gianluca Zambrotta. Sigh.