Conversational Endurance

Italians love to talk. They engage in incredibly long conversations, spanning hours at a stretch, making the American in me want to cut out and go rope a steer. What accounts for the cultural difference between Italians and Americans in terms of the average person's tolerance, nay enjoyment, of long conversations?

During the time I've lived in Italy, I've just about tripled my conversational endurance. Below, I've charted the duration of one sample lunch conversation, during which a group of about 9 Italians spoke with each other, faces engaged and laughing, for nearly 3 hours, while I, now a varsity mingler by American standards, had to peel off just shy of hour 2: