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ITALIAN HABITS

Did you know…? Bidets are a legal requirement in Italian homes

You're very unlikely to find an Italian home without a bidet, but this isn't simply down to a national obsession with hygiene.

Published: 7 February 2024 16:41 CET
Did you know...? Bidets are a legal requirement in Italian homes
The 'first bidet in Italy', in the bedroom of Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of Naples, at the Royal Palace of Caserta. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

One of the many things that Italy’s foreign visitors and new residents often find bemusing is the proliferation of bidets. Meanwhile, few Italians could (or would want to) imagine a bathroom without one.

All Italian homes feature a bidet: a low, oval basin usually found next to the toilet. Many of Italy’s international residents ignore their bidet for months or years; eyeing it suspiciously, perhaps washing their feet in it occasionally, before eventually adapting to the Italian way of life and figuring out how to use it for its intended purpose. Or perhaps removing it.

READ ALSO: Bureaucracy to bidets: the most perplexing things about life in Italy

If you ever wonder why bidets are so ubiquitous in Italy, you might put their seemingly enormous popularity down to the fact that so many Italians famously take cleanliness, including personal hygiene, very seriously.

But it’s not just a cultural norm. The people in charge of Italy’s building regulations also apparently see bidets as non-negotiable; since 1975 every Italian home has been legally required to have one.

Regulations state that “in each house, at least one bathroom must have the following fixtures: a toilet, a bidet, a bathtub or shower, and a sink”.

This means that builders of new homes in Italy cannot have the property signed off as safe to occupy until and unless these features are installed. Owners of homes that don’t have all of these facilities may run into problems when trying to sell.

Italian law also specifies that there should be a minimum distance between the bidet and other bathroom fixtures: the bidet should be at least 20 centimetres away from both the toilet and the bathtub, and at least 10 centimetres away from the sink.

While these rules, like all others in Italy, might not always be followed to the letter, there is a reason why almost any Italian home you buy, rent, or visit will have at least one bidet.

Member comments

  1. I have seen many apartment owners removing bidets to facilitate installation of washing machine etc – especially for holiday lets – unaware that this may affect it’s resale value

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ITALIAN TRADITIONS

Why do Italians take such long summer holidays?

Summer holidays in Italy mean workplaces emptying for weeks on end, a flood of 'out of office' replies from colleagues and clients, and deserted cities. But why is the long break so ingrained in Italian society?

Published: 4 July 2024 14:37 CEST
Why do Italians take such long summer holidays?

If you live in Italy, there’s a good chance you’ll be painfully familiar with the following scene: it’s early August and you head down to your favourite trattoria looking to treat yourself to a nice plate of bucatini pasta only to find shuttered windows, stacked patio chairs, and a sign hanging on the door saying ‘chiuso per ferie’ (‘closed for the holidays’).

What’s worse, you realise that the place is going to be shut for four consecutive weeks, meaning you’ll have to put off your craving for a culinary sfizio (‘treat’) until September. 

The long August break is generally one of, if not the most baffling aspect of Italian life for foreign nationals in the country.

After all, Italy as a whole pretty much grinds to a halt in early August, with millions of Italians leaving for their holiday destinations at the same time and anything from private businesses and hospitality establishments to public offices and banks closing for two to four weeks (usually to the delight of anyone looking to get any sort of official paperwork done). 

But why do Italians take such long summer holidays?

As it’s generally the case with most Italian habits and traditions, it’s hard to pinpoint a single factor behind the long August ferie (‘holidays’). 

READ ALSO: Nine unmistakable signs that summer has arrived in Italy

Surely, history plays no small part in the custom as experts believe the lengthy break may trace all the way back to Roman times, and specifically to emperor Augustus, who first established a long period of rest for farm hands and labourers known as Augustali, to be celebrated right after the end of harvest season. 

The long August break later survived the fall of the Roman empire as Christianity removed the more pagan aspects of the holiday, replacing them with liturgical observances and celebrations, including the Assumption of Mary, on August 15th. 

Finally, in the first half of the 20th century, the Fascist regime further legitimised the custom, with dictator Benito Mussolini himself enshrining the August holidays as a much-deserved break from the hard work carried out in factories and fields.

But while the long history behind the August holidays surely goes a long way towards explaining why they are so entrenched in Italian society, there are other considerations to be made.

First of all, August is the hottest month of summer in Italy, with daytime temperatures hovering between 35 and 40 degrees Celsius in many parts of the country and high levels of humidity.

This makes the August holidays something of a necessity for a whole range of occupations involving hard manual labour carried out outdoors. 

READ ALSO: Why do Italians have such clean homes?

Secondly, it’s worth pointing out that Italian sindacati are among the most powerful trade unions in Europe, with most organisations gaining significant bargaining power in the aftermath of World War II (the Fascist regime had banned independent workers’ unions) and retaining it up to this day. 

Under collective labour agreements in some public sectors, many offices can legally remain completely closed for as long as two or even three consecutive weeks. 

This means that an employee couldn’t actually work during that period of time even in the (unlikely) event that he wanted to. 

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