1. We have biggggg families.

Aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins third cousins, babies of those cousins—the whole gang. And you better believe that whole gang is attending every important event. Family parties? Those, for us, are basically all-day affairs with everyone coming in and out, running around, yelling, and of course, eating.

2. We are loud.

I mean loud. We’ve been raised on the principle that the louder you are, the more things you get done. (AKA: If your voice is too quiet, then you’re deffffinitely missing out on the second helping of lasagna.)

We’re used to yelling at one another in a heated argument, and we’re used to yelling over one another to be heard. We’ll be the one shouting at the party, or the one whose ‘whisper’ you can hear from a mile away. And we’ll probably (okay, definitely) raise our voices at you at some point. We don’t mean anything by it (unless you piss us off), it’s just in our nature.

3. We have dark, thick, and abundant hair.

Yeah—leg hair, arm hair, head hair—it’s the ultimate Italian curse. Also, get used to shedding. Everywhere. And get used to prickly legs because there’s no way in hell we’re shaving every single day.

4. We can be pushy.

This goes hand-in-hand with our loudness, but we’ve learned that to get our points across, we have to be slightly aggressive, or physically muscle our way around our family members. We don’t take ‘no’ for an answer sometimes, but we aren’t jerks. In reality, we’re actually super sensitive; we just like things our way sometimes.

5. We’re very close with our families.

As big, loud, obnoxious, and all over the place as our families are, we still love them. Our family get-togethers are of utmost importance, and staying updated with one another means everything. We don’t always get along (and you’ll definitely witness this) but we love the crap out of one another.

6. We love food.

Honestly, eating is probably the highlight of our days. We’ll eat basically anything, but our family recipes are coveted. (So if you’re eating with us, make sure to try every homemade thing you can—brownie points!)

Eating with family and friends is essential. You’ll probably never see us eating alone. And every holiday/big event is centered on food. A family gathering is not a family gathering without copious amounts of pasta, meat, salad, bread, and of course, desserts. (So if you bring something when you come to eat at our place, you’re immediately getting a gold star). But we basically revolve our lives around what we’re eating. No shame.

7. We function well in chaos.

We can cook, bake, talk, answer the phone, and drink wine all at the same time. You’ll always see us multitasking, or see everyone maneuvering around one another in the kitchen at a family party. We can handle pressure situations and do well with craziness. It’s what we’re used to.

8. We are stubborn.

As hell. (Sorry.) We like things our way and we like to argue, just because that’s been a part of our family for as long as we can remember. Please accept us for this, but also fight back. We need to know when we’re being selfish and we need to be put in our place sometimes. But sometimes our stubbornness is a good thing to, so please love us anyways.

9. We have big personalities.

When we enter a room, you’ll know. We come with energy, passion, determination, and of course, loudness. We are natural-born leaders and we’re sometimes a lot to handle. But we have good intentions, even if we’re a little too much sometimes.

10. We are very expressive.

A story is not a story without yelling, laughing, acting parts of it out, and wild hand gestures. We’re animated and love being the center of attention. But we are also expressive with our emotions. Cheek kisses and hugs with family members are a must. We also have love showing our significant others affection, and have no fear of showing it in public. We love you, and we want to share that with the world.

11. We love to love.

We’re super generous people. We love sharing our happiness, our laughter and of course, our food with others. We are loving people, so just know you’ll be invited into the family pretty easily. And know that you’ll be showered with affection, little gifts, loyalty, kindness, and kisses by us. Pretty much all the time.