The Simpson's love Italy?

This is so weird. I think that you can tell where Matt Groening has been recently on vacation by looking at where the Simpsons seem to be concentrating. This year he must have been in Italy - in the last episode Lisa was learning Italian from Milhouse (with a curiously funny vignette of Milhouse being chased by his Nonna in Tuscany - they got the scenery right). Now in tonight's episode, "The Italian Bob," the Simpsons encounter Sideshow Bob while in Italy. (Is this a Hannibal rip-off?)

The Simpsons have been very well-travelled in the past though; they have been to France (Bart - as an exchange student), Japan, Brazil, Australia, Canada, Cuba (for Mr. Burn's Million Dollar Bill), England, to name a few (the rest I have forgotten). Kind of interesting, certainly the Simpsons are more worldly than one might expect.