11960 Why did you come to Italy?

I was just sorting out a box of papers and I came across some photographs buried at the bottom, an odd assortment of second division prints that never made it in to the albums but have been kept nonetheless. One was a slightly out of focus photo of my husband (or boyfriend as he was then) standing in Piazza San Marco in Venice with pigeons resting on his outstretched arms. This started me thinking, that was taken on our first holiday ever together, we'd only been going out about six months. We went to Venice first and then Florence. And I remember saying to myself on our last afternoon in Firenze - we were up at Fiesole just below the church of San Francesco, I can see it as clearly as if it were yesterday - if this relationship goes pear shape I'm going to be seriously upset. Which was bit of a first for me...
Fortunately, it didn't. But if you'd told me on that September evening in 1984 that 25 years on we'd be married and still living together and, what's more, living together just an hour's drive down the road, I don't know what I would have said.
We sometimes say to ourselves that after living in so many corners of the world, it was natural that we would end up here, where we feel in a way we started out. So I guess that's one of the many reasons we came. Why did you?

Category
General chat about Italy

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 03/20/2009 - 13:29

[COLOR=black]My love of Italy began in the late 50’s with holidays with Mum and Dad.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]And as had become the norm, these were spent in a small family run hotel in Rimini which my parents and I had been visiting from the start. We were always there for my birthday and celebrated with the hotel owners family and a German couple who were there every year too. 'Our party' always began after the evening meal and when all other guests had gone out. On this particular night, one chap - a Milanese friend of the 'hotel family' had arrived late and ate his meal alone in the empty restaurant. By the time he had finished and slowly wandered towards our group, we were - shall we say, in good spirits. He stopped and 'saluted' his friends (the owners) and was politely introduced to our party. The silly s*d didn't know how to say Happy Birthday [/COLOR][COLOR=black]to me[/COLOR][COLOR=black] in English, so he just smiled and said something that sounded like [I]'Merry Crissman'....[/I]at which point my father said, passing him a glass of bubbly, "Oh for heavens sake - take this drink and join us!" He didn't need telling twice...

Well - long story short - he asked me out for the following night. Ha Ha... I told him "[I]Sorry[/I] - got a date already for tomorrow!" ([I]those[/I] were the days - I'm tellin' ya...).Well the following evening after dinner I'm waiting for my date to arrive to collect me.... but instead 'Rosella' the daughter of the hotel owner approached me and asked if I was waiting for someone? On the affirmative, she burst out laughing and said "Well I wouldn't bother. Signor Bruno has just stopped him from coming in and told him to 'clear off' as you are [I]his[/I] date tonight!"

Romantic - or what? He (Bruno) then took me to a night club for the evening and we didn’t stop talking. Not bad really as neither spoke the ‘other’s’ language… Needless to say - that particular holiday was very special for us both! One of those 'Golden Memories' that I still treasure.

Over that holiday we began to get to know each other and it became clear that this wasn't going to be 'just another holiday romance'. There was a special [I]spark[/I] there right from the start. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]We visited[/COLOR][B][COLOR=red]San Marino (1) [/COLOR][/B][COLOR=black]and[/COLOR][B][COLOR=red]San Leo (2) [/COLOR][/B][COLOR=black]and in addition we had a wonderful day out at the trotting races at[/COLOR][B][COLOR=red]Cesena (4). [/COLOR][/B][COLOR=darkred]
[/COLOR][COLOR=black]Honest to goodness, I'd never seen anything quite as exciting before in my life. The speed at which these horses travel and their proximity with the others is breathtaking. We saw a couple of 'tumbles' that day, though it seemed that the horses were OK. I seem to remember that we did place a couple of small bets but I really can't remember if we won or not. I know that we didn't get back to the hotel until half way through dinner, but the family made sure we were not left out.

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[COLOR=black]It was agreed later, after I had returned home, that I would go to Milan and meet his family that Christmas… Now that [I][U]was[/U][/I] a terrifying experience - I kid you not. Put yourself in my shoes - my command of the Italian language at that point allowed for me to tell a garage that the tyre on my car was flat. I could order a capuccino, say 'grazie' and 'per piacere'. But I was still struggling with the pronunciation of such 'horrors' as SDRAIO, GNOCCHI and CUCCHIAINO (Go on - try and say [I][U]them[/U][/I] fast - I dare you!).
[/COLOR][COLOR=darkslategray]
[/COLOR][COLOR=black]But the day arrived I was met at the [COLOR=Red][B]Stazione Centrale (3)[/B][/COLOR] in Milano, having travelled down from Dieppe by train[B]. ([/B]I was a seasoned European rail traveller by now due to the many holidays spent in Italy before). But the Stazione Centrale had only ever been a short stop where there was just time to buy things from the platform vendors (food, drink, gifts etc.), so I had never actually [I]seen[/I] the station - It was a revelation[B] - [/B]Victoria, Euston and Brighton [I]'eat your hearts out'![/I][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Well, that first Italian Christmas was a revelation too – Piazza Duomo and the Galleria – all the wonderful lights. Rinascente – the huge department store in Piazza Duomo was incredible. Oh, and the food! No roast turkey and two veg here… but a banquet of things I had never seen or tasted before – all prepared by Bruno’s sister ( who was blind) and her daughter. So that was the ‘second’ love I’d found. First the feller, and now the food! [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]I didn’t have to wait long for the ‘third’ love to materialise – For New Years Eve he took me to Como and up to Brunate where he’d booked a table (music and all) and there looking at these wonderful mountains covered in snow and bathed in moonlight, he proposed…………………My love of the Alps and Lake Como then joined my other two Italian loves.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]I’ve never regretted [I][U]one[/U][/I] minute of my life here (warts and all), except I wish [I]he[/I] could have enjoyed this peaceful retirement here with me![/COLOR]

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 03/22/2009 - 12:49

hi,
i am new to this forum... what is the specialty of Italy?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 03/22/2009 - 16:05

Thank you Carole and Violetta for such romantic stories! mine goes something like this:
I was on my 3rd year of an Italian course at uni, the year you spend in Italy - I went to Siena with 2 friends and within 6 days I met "him", the reason I am now in Italy. It was the typical (and freakishly common among my peers on the course) meeting in a bar - I was very much "fidanzata" and tried to tell him as much but without much conviction because I knew as soon as I saw him that I was in trouble. Being a true Italian he paid no attention to such details and pursued me, but I was fairly easy to catch! This was February and in July we had our future together mapped out. I finished my last year at uni and came straight back to Siena the day after my last exam.
And here I am now, in Lecce rather than Siena, but with my reason for being here and our baby boy!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 03/22/2009 - 23:13

[quote=112inky;114337]hi,
i am new to this forum... what is the specialty of Italy?[/quote]

It's many, many things, often quite ridiculous little things. For example, I'm currently travelling and when we rang the airline last night to confirm our flights "home", it was so-o good giving the flight number and confirming to the person on the other end of the phone that, yes, we were going to Rome. (Recognising the English accent they had initially assumed we were flying to London. Perish the thought!!!!)
We all know the country's incredibly beautiful, the food's great, the wine's even better, the beaches are bliss, the people are amazing - yep, come on, the people are amazing, aren't they? But even though it's far from perfect - as other posts doing the rounds at present confirm - it's a country with a big heart, in addition to all the other stuff. I've only been away five days and I'm missing it like mad.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 03/23/2009 - 03:46

Hi,
that's a great post.. thank you!!!1 i would like to visit Italy soon as possible... life is boring here in India...your message has made me firm to visit this great place soon...

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 03/23/2009 - 05:36

Dai, dai! India boring??? Heavens, it's the most inspiring, stimulating. life force enhancing place on the planet. I go in to overdrive (as you can see) just thinking about it. Where are you exactly?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 04/17/2009 - 04:10

[FONT=Century Gothic]Often asked that question…Italy just has that something…the X Factor:yes:[/FONT]