Italians like to wear their qualifications where everyone can see them. Accountants style themselves Ragioniere, architects are always Architetto, and so on. Corporate chieftains whose business successes have long since overshadowed their academic achievements hang on to the handle: so Fiat’s Gianni Agnelli was always l’Avvocato, Carlo De Benedetti is still l’Ingegnere. I used to be rather proud to receive letters addressed to “Egregio Dott. Hill”, when I worked in Milan, until I realised protocol dictated that every university graduate was a Dottore or Dottoressa.
意大利人喜欢把资质“穿在身上”，让每个人都看得到。会计师的举止行为让人一望即知是会计师，建筑师走到哪都有建筑师的派头，其他行业的人也是如此。一些企业老总，尽管他们在商业上的成就早已超过了在专业上的成就，还是喜欢挂一个专业头衔。比如菲亚特(Fiat)老板吉亚尼•阿涅利(Gianni Agnelli)，永远都被称为“律师”(l'Avvocato)；又如卡洛•德贝内代蒂(Carlo De Benedetti)，仍然被称为“工程师”。我在米兰工作的时候，每次收到“致亲爱的希尔博士”的来信都感到非常自豪，直到有一天，我发现，意大利的习俗是把有大学文凭的人都称为博士。