They say, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

Well, one Italian airport staff member apparently decided to do as the Beijingers do instead.

Chinese travellers were left stunned after hearing flawless Mandarin — complete with a convincing Beijing accent — coming from an airport counter in Rome.

In this day and age, we'd probably have assumed it was AI.

No wonder some joked they thought they'd somehow landed back in Beijing instead of Italy.

The man behind the viral videos is Bonanni Gabriele, an Air China staff member based in Rome.

Or, as many Chinese travellers now know him, Bo Tianxiong.

While Gabriele has never publicly shared who gave him his Chinese name, it's common for foreign students in China to receive one from their teachers or classmates.

What impressed viewers wasn't just that he spoke fluent Mandarin, but how he spoke it.

According to Gabriele, his unmistakable Beijing accent came from a Chinese teacher who encouraged him to adopt the capital's signature erhua pronunciation.

Erhua is a distinctive feature of the Beijing dialect, where an "r" sound is added to the end of certain words.

He also picked up local expressions such as hao lei (好嘞), a casual way of saying "alright", and bei'er bang (倍儿棒), meaning "really great".

"I was completely surprised at first," Gabriele told aviation platform Airwefly when asked about going viral.

He said friends and colleagues kept sending him clips of himself online, leaving him both surprised and overwhelmed by the attention.

Gabriele began learning Chinese in 2015 before spending time studying in Beijing.

Along the way, he also fell in love with Chinese cuisine, naming Huguosi Snack Street, Peking duck and hotpot among his favourites.

As for how he became so fluent?

“Listen often, speak often, don't be afraid of making mistakes and watch plenty of Chinese short videos,” he said.

These days, Gabriele makes it a point to greet Chinese passengers in Mandarin whenever they arrive at the airport.

His goal, he explained, is to help them feel a little more at home, even when they're thousands of kilometres away from China.

Judging by the reactions, it's working.

The videos quickly went viral, with many netizens amazed by how natural his Mandarin sounded.

Some joked they could imagine Marco Polo speaking Chinese exactly like this after spending years in China.

"I swear his Chinese is better than his Italian," one commenter joked, while another wrote: "Give him dual citizenship."

Others pointed out that it wasn't just his accent that impressed them.

"It's not just his accent. His vocabulary is great too!" one wrote.

Another admitted: "Bro speaks better Chinese than I do!"

Photos: Air China, Airwefly