What is it that comes to your mind when you hear the word Italy? Pasta, pizza, olives, Nutella, Rome, Etna, football, wine, Pinocchio, The Leaning Tower of Pisa maybe? For me among all those things Italy means great food, warm people, rustic buildings, huge hydrangeas, lemon trees, picturesque landscapes and oh so many great memories.
When I got to Italy for the first time I was nineteen and had just graduated from high school. I had decided to spend a gap year and had got a job as a bartender/waitress in a little trattoria in Lombardy. I remember looking at the Lake Como and noticing little boys playing football everywhere when driving from Milan to my new home in Mazzo di Valtellina. It was a cute little village between the Alps just before Swiss border. My career there didn’t last for long as I was missing my just found boyfriend (husband today). After two weeks he came to meet me up in Milan and we took a train to Venice and spent all of our money in a weekend there. Couple of years later we came back and we have kept returning ever since.
In this blog we will as well return to Italy multiple times and I will tell you about my favourite places, tips, and dreams. The name of the blog “Viaggio e Limoni” means “Journey and Lemons”. Journey for the one long journey which is a lifetime travel as well as many travels within. Lemons because Amalfi Coast is one of my favourite spots and it is known for its sweet lemons and Limoncello. Everyone knows the saying “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade” or different variations of the same meaning. Lemons for me mean sour taste in mouth but I like it. My life has no doubtly given me some lemons and that’s actually one reason I decided to start a blog and add positive thoughts via it into my everyday life by looking back at many great memories and daydreaming about new explores.
When I think about Italy I remember having the best pistacchio gelato ever on the little island called Vulcano near Sicily. I also still taste the most delicious pasta I got when I didn’t know what I ordered in Umbria. I go back to see Venice for the first time and us being extremely in love in gondola. I see myself in Emilia-Romagna jumping into Adriatic See from a little boat with my brother, laughing out loud and taking silly pictures. I feel the perfect moment watching the sunset with the cute little cat and having a glass of rose on the balcony facing Capri in Praiano. In my memories we drive around Italy with a perfect Fiat 500 through olive groves and see wild boars and cows on the sides of the roads. I laugh when I think of us getting locked in on the balcony in somewhere in Veneto and how I had to climb down fire ladders with just my underwear on, I was pregnant too!
I’m still amazed how the dog called Rita quided us through the cycling tour in beautiful winery Borgo Valle Rita in Campania. I still dream about the houses we went to see with a real estate agent in Tuscany and how close we were to buy one. I remember how fireflies sparkle in the dark country side. I hear the church bells and see a Vespa loaded with fresh onions in a little town in Calabria. I smile when I recall the man who wanted me to see George Clooney’s picture in his barber shop in Laglio. I watch my little daughter turning five months on a roadtrip in Sardinia. I secretly cheer for England when watching the World Cup game England-Italy in Lecce. I see two of my childhood friends in a table enjoying espressos and tiramisu near to Campo de’ Fiori. I imagine myself being in a Woody Allen film as I hear a French man talking way too much when I try to enjoy my alone moment on Piazza de Popolo and how I ran into the same man by accident for three times on that holiday. I feel the sun in my back as I snorkel and hunt for pearls at the southern tip of Puglia. I’m still happy for my goddaughter who found the perfect shoes in a vintage market in Monti.
Italy has become really important to me and my family, it is our true home away from home.
Like Giuseppe Verdi said: “You may have the universe if I may have Italy.”
