On the eve of the OEMC2011, Martin Rep recalls his mahjong experiences in Italy. We find him at Monza, 2002.

Italian Mahjong Stories - Vol. II

Doesn’t the Milan mahjong club Red Dragon exist anymore? That would be just too bad, since we had one of our greatest mahjong experiences ever on that sunny day back in 2002. But the link www.dragorosso.it seems to have died. I hope this does not go for its sympathetic president, a giant called Davide who was not only a good mahjong player, but also a terrific cook.
On the website of the Drago Rosso, you could find an extensive description of the Italian mahjong rules. Somehow - but God must have been in the details - they were somewhat different from the official FIMJ rules. I am not even sure if the Red Dragon club was associated with FIMJ.
On June 23rd, 2002, the Red Dragon organized an open tournament. A good occasion to meet Davide in person. And of course, to win some prizes. We always try to plan our holidays around a mahjong tournament abroad.
It was a Sunday morning. The Red Dragon had a nice venue in a community center at Monza, not far away from Milan. We found it without any problems and David welcomed us very warm-heartedly.
It was way too warm to play inside. So the mahjong tables with the FIMJ table cloths and the mahjong sets with the FIMJ-tiles (yes! they were all prettily engraved!) were all carried outside. Each table had its own sunshade.
It was nice playing. There was an official referee, and in 2002 my Italian was not as bad as it is today, so we could communicate a little. Very kind people, who all thought it was great to have two Dutch folks in their club tournament.
When a Italian wants to pung, he just says ‘me’: for me. If he wants to chi, most of the time he says nothing - it’s your turn anyway. You can declare riichi if you are waiting for just one tile, and there are quite some combinations that were rather familiar to us since we knew the Chinese classical game which, at the time, was pretty standard in Holland.
After two sessions, it was lunch time. We were called inside. Dicky and I were seated opposite Davide and his wife. We had a terrific meal salad: a real Italian one, richly filled with anything you might want to have in your salad.
When it was finished, Dicky and I decided to take a little walk before the next session. But that appeared to be a big mistake. “No no”, said Davide, “this was just the salad. Now we get the primo, the first dish.”
I do not remember all the dishes we had. We had a primo, a secondo, a dolce for a desert.  There was espresso, and probably wine as well. It was an absolutely terrific meal which was served there in that simple community center.
Not until it was finished, it was time for some mahjong again.
Probably I have written down the results of that little competition somewhere. But I don’t care too much. It was one of the finest tournament we ever played in. And a good meal too.