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Many thanks to all those who answered. Some of the other answers conveyed the meaning of the expression as well, but they were descriptive, whereas what I was after was the closest English expression resembling a saying. 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
I was just thinking that something like "same xxxx, different country" might be pretty close to the actual meaning (including in terms of negative connotations), though I obviously can't write that for a client! Maybe there's a more refined version of this?
"try googling the phrase with or without... " If you look at the third page of with, you find the 108000 hits has reduced to 108, a bug in the Google database.
That is a subtle distinction. If I complain about things people do in Italy, the answer comes back pat, "e nell'inghilterra? Tutto il mondo è paese e non mi dici il contrario". However if I complain about the heat in Summer, nobody gives that answer.
It doesn't mean that people are the same everywhere, it means that the same things happen everywhere in the world (with a slight negative implication). Conversationally we would say "it's the same no matter where" (so put up with it).
I fear you may be right Jim but there's always the chance that someone might pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat. There could be some slang or regional variant out there. And even the most bizarre English expressions normally have some equivalent in Italian.
I don't think you'll find what you're looking for Thomas. If it does exist, I've never come across it. It has a sort of corollary in Italian "moglie e bue, paese tuo". People may be the same the world over, but don't take risks when it comes to important things.
Explanation: "The whole earth as a village": A chronotopic analysis of Marshall McLuhan's " global village" and Patrick McGoohan's "The Prisoner" ...
gradworks.umi.com/MR/51/MR51912.html
Fiorsam Local time: 13:57 Works in field Native speaker of: Italian PRO pts in category: 4
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): -1
