The Top 5 Reasons to Stop Wasting Your Summer and Go Visit Italy
You’ll never be the same
If you’ve never been truly happy, go visit Italy.
If you’ve never been in love with all your heart, go visit Italy.
If you don’t love life, go visit Italy.
There is something about Bella Italia (Beautiful Italy).
Maybe it’s their relaxed perspective on life imbibed into their every gesture and ancient wall. Maybe it’s the spaghetti sauce that’s been slowly cooking for hours. There’s no hurry. Everything Italians do is at a slow pace, with love and smiles in their eyes.
Everything smells and tastes different.
Breathing the Italian air feels like breathing honey. There’s a sweetness to it. The curl of a lip, an all-knowing and mysterious smile.
The experience of Italy will be the experience of a lifetime.
After my first summer in Italy, I went back for 4 years in a row.
What’s so amazing about it? Everything. But let’s just choose some.
1. Italy has the most charming cities.
All of them. Similar but unique at the same time. You can’t go wrong with either, but my top picks are Rome and Siena. A difficult choice, since they are all absolutely incredible.
It should come as no surprise to anybody that Rome is a spectacular city covered in the glory of everything Italian. There are 0 things to even slightly dislike about Rome. But 1 million things to love. The incredible fountains, the charming squares, the small restaurants with impeccable service. Rome is the place that you never want to leave.
Siena, on the other hand, is a city where time stood still. If you want to experience Middle Ages outside of a history museum, you have got to visit Siena. The streets are so narrow that when a car drives by, all the passers-by have to press themselves against the wall. Everything looks like it’s been frozen for the past hundred years and just woke to life populated with modern people.
2. “Dolce far niente” is a lifestyle.
The best feeling in the world. The Italian expression that means “pleasant relaxation in carefree idleness”.
That’s the Italian spirit, that translated word by word means “sweet doing nothing”. The attitude that allows Italians to cook everything really slow. And take long lunch breaks in a quaint little restaurant while enjoying a glass of frizzante wine.
Do you know any other country where it’s ok to take 2 hours off work in the middle of the day to drink, eat and socialize?
3. The food of peasants, perfected by the gods.
If you’ve never been a foodie, Italy will turn you into one. Because everything is so carefully thought out, with fresh ingredients and following old established recipes, Italian food is an unforgettable experience.
It’s an absolutely incredible medley of very simple but high-quality ingredients. Perfectly ripe tomatoes, fresh off the vine, impeccable olive oil hand-pressed by your neighbors, homemade pasta al-dente, tiramisu lighter than air.
Nothing is too sweet, too salty, too spicy. No food is trying too hard to get to your senses but they all do. Real quality doesn’t need to show off. It’s perfect just the way it is.
4. The history and culture peppered at every street corner.
I’m not a history aficionado.
But I could be if I lived in Italy. You can feel it in every cobblestone. The architecture is spectacular. The streets are special, the dishes that you eat out of, rare.
Being in Italy is like traveling back in time as far as looks are concerned, but traveling into the future as far as services and hospitality are concerned. A future where people have finally learned how important it is to be civil and sweet to each other, how much it matters to relax and enjoy the simple pleasures of life and how crucial it is to respect yourself and everyone around you.
Land of the ancients, populated by fine arts and even finer beings.
5. Falling in love is easier in Italy.
If you are lucky enough to fall in love in Italy, that feeling will stay with you for the rest of your life.
It happened to me. Twice. It might have been Italy’s magic atmosphere or perfect weather. Or maybe it was the Aperol spritz sipped under the Italian moonlit sky.
I didn’t question it much, I just went with the flow as any other Italian would. I let it have me and devour me like a true summer love and let it pass when my time under the ancient arches of Rome ended. No looking back, no regrets.
I was happy with the happy living, sunset chasing, and sweet loving.
“Dolce far niente” is not something you try out once. It’s something you become, with a joy and dedication that would have seemed beyond your capacity before trying out the Italian experience.
This country has inspired thinkers, poets, artists, and writers since the beginning of time. Wherever this summer takes you, wherever this life makes of you, you are not allowed to die before you see Italy. Give it a chance to inspire and impress you beyond your wildest dreams.
What is the fatal charm of Italy? What do we find there that can be found nowhere else? I believe it is a certain permission to be human, which other places, other countries, lost long ago.(Erica Jong)
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