Those crazy Italians with their coffee-peeing monkeys!
Something I found strange when I worked in Italy was the coffee machines. In the UK, you go to a coffee machine, put your money in the slot and press a button labelled "COFFEE". A few seconds later your coffee appears.
But, the few times I ever had to go to a machine for coffee in Italy (they still have tea ladies, except it's men, and they serve coffee), you put your money in, and it takes a good
2 minutes to make the coffee! I don't know what happens inside those machines, but it does taste better than any other vending machine coffee I've had. It's not great, but it's better.
Only problem is that you feel like a right lemon the first few times... doesn't seem right that a machine takes so long to make coffee