Italian cleaning products

Have you ever heard of such things as Italian cleaning products? Today I went to the local dollar store to purchase a few cleaning products for my house and noticed that they are made in Italy (can you believe something sold in the dollar store is not made in China!). Luckily I was with an Italian friend, Caterina, who was not surprised at all – because “Italians are very intense about their cleaning”. The label on the mop says “Lavapavimenti” – or “Wash floor” (Italian’s don’t mix words – they just tell it like it is). Caterina even shared the story of “La Befana” with me – an old lady that was so busy cleaning her house that she didn’t have the time to join the three wise men to visit baby Jesus. But then after cleaning her house she realized she missed a prime opportunity – she grabbed her broom and ran to find the manger. I’m sure she wanted to sweep up all the loose straw on the floor.