Very odd question. But fair enough.
Today's Italians are Westerners and therefore respect the social culture of every other Western country. The most common responses to "how are you doing?" are, as in many Western countries:
- Everything ok
- Pretty good
- I'm fine
The Italian idiosyncrasy
In my very personal opinion, the only real Italian peculiarity depends on our history, and has to do with the role of luck and providence. Remember that Italians on average feel little "control" over their own history, because we have been conquered by many peoples and the amount of agreements, intrigues, changes, wars, deceptions, power games, small and large temporary states has been almost endless on our territory (hence its beauty).
So sometimes you add to the answer some concept like (often expressed in the impersonal third person to give it more rhetorical weight):
- "Se Dio vuole" (God willing) — the reference to providence
- "Si tira avanti" (I'm just getting by) — the sense of survival
- "Si fa quel che si può" (I do what I can) — active resignation
- "Non mi posso lamentare" (I can't complain) — implied: it could be much worse, I am temporarily lucky
In short: the average Italian is an optimistic fatalist. They know destiny is against them, but in the meantime they enjoy a coffee and a good chat. It's our version of the art of resilience.
