I lived in Rome, Italy for 12 years. Having lived abroad for many years (I have also lived in Mexico and Santiago, Chile), I have come to appreciate many aspects of life in the U.S. We have things very good, and often don't realize it until we travel to another country.
Italy, for example, is a tremendously difficult country to live in if you are disabled. There are no elevators in older apartment buildings, and even in newer ones, the elevators aren't wide enough for a wheelchair to fit. The Italian equivalent of the ADA (whatever that might be...I'll have to ask an Italian attorney colleague) doesn't have the same teeth that our ADA does.
Sidewalks present similar difficulties. The ramps that we are accustomed to are just beginning to be constructed in the larger cities like Rome and Milan. But then you have the problems of how Italians park. They routinely park on the sidewalks, since parking spaces there are as rare as they are in Manhattan.
I found this picture on a travel blog www.irintech.com with a typical picture of an Italian car parked right in the middle of a sidewalk. Probably won't get a ticket. Imagine being a parent trying to push a stroller, or an individual with a walker, motorized scooter (which I have seen in Italy) or a wheelchair. I often wondered how disabled and elderly people even managed in Italy. I still don't know.
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