Italia!

Italia! I fell in love with the Bel Paese as a twenty-one-year-old backpacker staying in pensioni recommended by Let’s Go: Europe. Sure, it helped that I met a handsome Roman boy first thing (now a good friend to my husband and me.) Certo, I was astonished by the art and architecture, the landscapes and cityscapes. But what blew my mind then (and still does when I have the luck to return) is the Italian way of life. My Anglo-Saxon upbringing compels me to rush all the time but – in Italy – I slow way down: indulging in a mid-day granita and brioche at a Sicilian café; drinking more deep, dark espresso than maybe I should; nibbling Venetian cicchetti snacks at a standing room-only bar; reveling in the particular golden light that falls on Italy. Exchanging my power-walk stride for the passeggiata at dusk, when elegantly coiffed, dressed and shod Italians stroll cobblestoned streets at a leisurely pace (no way am I exchanging my walking shoes for stilettos, however.) Now, when none of us can actually voyage to places we love, I’m grateful to armchair-travel through books, movies, and even videos of Italians singing to one another out their windows!  In these dark times, l’arte di vivere reminds me to live each day as artfully as I can.