Italian culture strongly favors creative, situation-specific solutions to conflicts over rigid application of rules or principles. The ability to devise a practical accommodation that gives everyone enough of what they need is admired as a form of intelligence. Insisting on the letter of a rule or the strict terms of an agreement when a workable compromise is available is often seen as socially unintelligent or even hostile.
In practice, this means Italian counterparts will look for ways to split differences in unexpected directions, reframe problems so they become more solvable, introduce new elements to expand the solution space, or find workarounds that bypass the source of the dispute. When facing conflict with Italian counterparts, come prepared to explore creative alternatives rather than to argue from fixed positions. The flexibility to improvise solutions is valued more highly than the ability to prove that you are right.
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