http://www.lonelyplanet.com/italy/rome/travel-tips-and-articles/42/26847
Interesting article on Italy, being Italian, style, food, and art.
Travelling to Italy is very special. I remember the exact circumstances that brought me to travel there for the first time about 6 yrs ago. I had always wanted to go but I procrastinated based on the fact that there were so many sun destinations that were closer and with so much choice available it never really occured to me that I was really missing out on a really incredible italian experience. The trip of a lifetime actually.
As I am of Italian origin and we do have a very well established Italian community here in Montreal I always felt like if I was very connected to my father’s homeland and as such I didn’t believe that it was really necessary for me to go to Italy in order to live la bella vita Italiana, in my mind I was already living it… if I would have know how mind boggling and amazing my little tour of Italy would have been I would not have hesitated for so long before taking action and travelling there.
It all came to a start when my wife met an Italian student from Roma while she was attending classes at Concordia University. We bonded really well with her and we had a nice time showing her around the beautiful city of Montreal and I was quite proud to bring her to our very own little Italy so that she could get a little taste of her homeland and she could see how well we Italians in Montreal lived it up and had kept touch with our Italian roots. I was completely surprised when she expressed that she was of the opinion that our little Italy was actually nothing like Italy itself, that it was actually very North American and that if I wanted to know what Italy was really like well I would have to go and experience it for myself.
I took her up on her word and I went for the first time two months later, it was early november, a little after the busy tourist season, but it being Italy and not Montreal, the temperature was still very mild and quite nice. We visited some friends in Nice France and we actually went swimming in the ocean, that took me by surprise also I didn’t expect it to be that warm.
So we started our trip in Nice and we took the train to Milano where we stayed with some relatives that lived in a suburb of Milano called Cesano Maderno. Cesano Maderno is a very cute little town about 30 minutes outside of Milano and close to pretty everything. From there we went on day trips to Verona, Venice, Lugano Switzerland, Lake Como, Firenze, Genova…. and on the second part of our trip we visited Roma and Sulmona which is in the province of Aquila where we stayed in a centuries old house with my aunt.
The whole experience was surreal. To find yourself in Venice with the Canals and the Gondolas, to go bike riding in Lido. To go to Verona and have your picture taken at the house of Romeo and Juliet. To find an illusive backend street called Via Perugino in Milano and to have my picture taken there… all of it was really amazing…. I felt so alive and I felt like if I was in the middle of a page of history.
The second part of our trip brought us to Roma and that in itself was the most amazing part. I am a big history and architecture buff and to find myself amongst the ancient ruins of the Foro Romano, to go for aperitivos on outside terraces, to visit the colosseum, etc… There was too much stuff to take in and it complety blew me away.
If there is a trip that I recommend to one and all it is to go and visit Italy. The experience will change you a give you a different perspective on life. It was one of the highs of my life and can’t wait to be able to go and experience again. Because in Italy “La vita e veramente bella” and you have to experience it to know how it feels.
