Falling in Love in Italy

If you’re looking for a raunchy girl meets boy story, this is not it. This is a story about how I found love in Italy, in the most simplistic pure form – read on, maybe it’ll make sense to you.

Imagine waking up with the sunrise, excited and motivated to start the day. There’s no rush to your mornings. You wake up, and there’s no stress or impending responsibilities, nor tasks to check off. Relaxingly, you get ready for the day as you think about what you’d like to eat that morning. Another cornetto (Italian “croissant”), or perhaps a new type of pastry? (The pasticciotto has been my favourite.) You’re alone most mornings, but you prefer it that way because it’s allowed you to listen and process your thoughts more clearly, allowing you to be so present. Like the sun, you soak it all in – the beauty of Italian architecture as you walk down the quiet streets to find your local caffetteria (“coffee bar”). You have your first sip of espresso of the day, and you welcome the world and day ahead of you.

That was me, for two weeks.

Cuisine – Every day, I spoiled myself with scrumptious foods – fresh homemade pastas, seafood and wood-oven cooked pizzas. At night, we celebrated with bottles of wines, glasses of Aperol Spritz, and laughed too loud. Some say that the way to a (wo)man’s heart is through food, and in this case they were absolutely right. I’ve found pasta dishes starting at €6.5, and pizzas at €5. I never want to eat mid-tier pasta dishes for C$40 in Canada again. At night, the streets become so lively as the tourists mix in with the locals. There’s so much music, chatter, motion. Every night feels so young, fresh full of possibilities and life.

Wander/Beauty – For myself as a foreigner, exploring Italy feels like I’m wandering through a fairytale book. In every city I visited, everywhere I looked, there was so much history, beautiful art and buildings. I couldn’t get enough of it. On one hand, we had these incredibly charming old towns, grand churches, and classical architecture. On the other hand, I’ve found the most surreal beaches – some with pearly white sand, some with turquoise waters surrounded by cliffs and coastal towns. The water is so clear and bright blue, the sailboats were so tiny, it reminded me of how anything is possible. How everything we do is so miniscule in comparison to the grand picture, but then again those tiny actions can accumulate to something grand if we wanted it to.

People – I was very lucky. My Italian was beginner at best (thank you Duolingo), but the locals were kind and helpful. The travellers I met along the way mean so much to me as they’ve all contributed to what made this trip amazing. A cute story of fellow strangers also travelling through the Sita bus system in Amalfi Coast (in which can be awfully stressful) – I was stuck way back of the bus and needed to get off, and one by one the people in front of me yelled to the folks in front of them to move. That was important, because the bus is completed cramped body to body, and the bus only stops for what feels like maximum 5 seconds. The door opened and closed, before I even could get off. The bus started to move, but the voices that yelled “Stop” finally carried to the driver who opened the door again. I was with a friend who often forgets to get off at the right stop, so I yelled her name “Carla!” She didn’t pop up, so the whole bus chanted her name for a few seconds before I gave up and finally got off the bus. The bus immediately drove away rapidly. (I did later find my friend). Just little things like that.

My favourite night in the whole trip was in Positano. A group of 7 young strangers, or rather new friends, shared how magnificent and beautiful life can be. None of us rich by any means, but somehow we managed to stay in and explore together one of the most idyllic and expensive destinations in Europe. We started the night with drinks at Franco’s bar. We didn’t get there in time for sunset, but we felt the bustle in the night thanks to the atmosphere the bar created, with the Positano village lights dancing in the background. Afterwards, we had a drunk dinner at who knows where for more pasta. Then, we visited Amalfi Coast’s biggest disco club – Music on the Rocks. Charming our to the top floor, we sat in an empty lounge where it was just us, a bottle of champagne, and the panoramic view of the city at night. Was this really my life? How did we get here? When did I become so deserving? I felt myself at peak, figuratively and literally.

Love can be found in many ways. The one we know the best is through romantic love. But in Italy, I found love through connection, in beauty, in life, food, and friendship. Grounded and full of gratitude – thank you.