Growing up Italian, everyone knew your business, your mail was already opened, and the idea of “setting boundaries” simply did not exist.

In this episode of the BOH Podcast, I talk about being in therapy, hearing therapists tell you to set boundaries, and realizing that advice makes absolutely no sense if you were raised in an Italian household. No privacy, no secrets, no knocking, and definitely no telling your parents or grandparents “I need space.”

From parents opening your mail, to Nonna showing up unannounced to do your laundry, to the guilt logic that runs every Italian family, this episode breaks down why so many of us end up in therapy not because we were abused, but because we were raised in a culture that does not translate well once you leave the Italian bubble.

It was not malicious, it was not traumatic, it was loving, strict, ridiculous, and completely unhinged by modern standards.

If you grew up Italian, you will feel seen.
If you married into it, this might explain a lot.

Growing up Italian, our parents said things that sounded threatening, confusing, and completely unhinged, and nobody ever questioned it.

In this episode of the BOH Podcast, I break down some of the phrases I grew up hearing that made absolutely no sense once I stopped and thought about them.

From “I brought you into this world and I can take you out,” to counting hits with “esu uno,” to telling people to “go to Napoli” like it’s an insult, to the moment I accidentally caused a full family blow up at the dinner table by saying “yettu sangu” instead of bless you.

This episode is about growing up Italian American, family confidence, chaotic logic, and how nobody ever explained anything, they just said it louder.

If this sounds familiar, you grew up like I did.

In this episode of BOH, I talk about things I genuinely thought were normal growing up, until I got older and realized… they weren’t.

From thinking all grandparents didn’t speak English, to dressing up as saints for church, to believing cash was the only acceptable wedding gift, this episode is just stories, memories, and realizing how different everyone’s version of “normal” really is.

In the first episode of BOH, Rocco talks about growing up in a house where calm meant something bad was coming. He reflects on being raised by a paranoid mother and a deeply pessimistic father, how that environment shapes the way you see the world, and why humor became a way to survive it.

This episode is about anxiety, family, expectations, and realizing as an adult that nobody really knew what they were doing, they just sounded confident. If you grew up always waiting for the other shoe to drop, this one will feel familiar.