Rules and procedures in Italian culture are understood as requiring interpretation, not mechanical execution. The right way to apply a rule depends on who is involved, what the circumstances are, and what the stakes are.
This is not disregard for rules—Italians can have very strong views about right and wrong. But there is a cultural assumption that rules are frameworks, not algorithms, and that applying them properly requires human judgment about the specific situation. A person who follows a rule rigidly when the situation clearly calls for flexibility is not seen as disciplined—they are seen as lacking judgment. The capable individual reads the context and applies the appropriate response, even if that means bending or reinterpreting the formal requirement.
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