Among the Instagram characters created by the Italian comedian Giorgia Fumo, the one that resonates the most with me is a millennial travel influencer called Emily, who “explains” Italy in her videos, letting her audience in on gems such as: “Did you know that Europe is not a country – it’s mind-blowing – but Italy, listen to me, is a country! Italians walk to places! They walk to enjoy fresh air! Do you know Italians cook their own meals, like, every day? In Italy nobody works because everyone is rich and everyone just has these huge family mansions in Tuscany or Napoli?”

If Fumo’s satirical creation sounds like too much of an exaggeration, consider that her inspirational source materials include a Las Vegas-based creator called Ciaoamberc, who in one earnest post that amassed 3.6m views said: “Do you ever notice how everybody in Italy does not have a therapist like everybody in the United States does? […] We used to live in communities, we’d talk to people every day. There are people in Italy who sit down for an hour to have an espresso. We don’t do any of that.”

Emily the travel influencer unwittingly anticipated the latest twist for the Netflix hit Emily in Paris, namely the lead character’s departure from Paris to Rome, which is reportedly causing some grief for France’s president, Emmanuel Macron.

Some Italian millennials, like me, try to correct the many misguided assumptions about Italy by commenting under incriminating TikToks or Substack posts. In May, a Substacker stated that “Italy will cure you from the disease of worrying about your net worth”. When I told them that Italy’s economy was not doing........

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