An interesting story in the BBC News Magazine sparkled an interesting debate over how Italians supposedly dress to stay warm vs. Britons during the winter. (According to the two debating BBC writers, Italians underdress and the Brits overdo it.) I believe that both sides have a point.
My personal theory is based on about 10 years of living in the U.S. and few more in other Anglo-Saxon countries. I believe that Italians tend to dress [vestirsi] according to the seasons, possibly due to the massive role that fashion (which is seasonal by definition) and “fare la bella figura” play in the Italian psyche. On the other hand, many other people — Britons included — tend to dress according to the actual weather outside, regardless of the season. This is why it is so easy to spot Italian tourists in the winter: take a look around and when you see plenty of sciarpe (scarves), cappotti (coats), and guanti (gloves) and see if my simple theory holds.