Part 1: Italian coffees, blood-red eyes, and a few lessons on parenting... Part 2: Journeys along the Amalfi Coast

On Thursday:
There are so many days right now where I have to stop and remind myself, “Wow- I’m living in Italy.” With this being a dream of mine for many years, I have to pinch myself to feel it as reality. Italy’s landscapes of olive groves, vineyards and hilltop villages truly exist just like the photos and movies I’ve seen. To be experiencing these little glimpses of this Italian culture that I’ve read so much about is indeed meeting my expectations, and it’s also granting many surprises. Things like standing at the bar in little cafes, ordering a rich cappuccino in the country where they originated (only before noon- Italians don’t drink milk in their coffee after noontime) … it just makes me smile. Today we’re sitting on a train on our way to Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Again- a pinch me moment. This is a region of Italy that I have always wanted to see (the name alone conjures up beautiful photographs in my mind), but I did not anticipate our travels bringing us close enough for a visit. Turns out it is closer than I thought, and in just 2 hours we’ll be stepping off the train and setting out to explore the treasures that await.

Travis is hoping that being away from the farm for a few days will relieve him from his current, dreadful allergy annoyance. Oh my goodness… I have never seen my husband sneeze so often! We’re not sure if it’s been various animals (cats or donkeys), the Italian plants and pollen, or just the spring season that is causing Travis to go in search for a Kleenex every other moment. His blood-red eyes are a sure sign of the turmoil his head is going through. He looks like a serpent! In fact, at the pharmacy today he had the pharmacists worried and asking all kinds of questions about his condition. Of course it’s only allergies, but so bothersome none the less. Good thing today we found out that he can get his inhaler prescription over-the-counter without a written prescription for less money than his insurance co-pay at home. Got to love the European health care system.

The way of travel we’ve chosen for this leg of our year has been absolutely fascinating. Meeting and befriending people we normally wouldn’t encounter as tourists, living with couples and families in the midst of their busy daily lives, jumping in to work and relieve them of some of their busyness, eating regional specialties right out of the garden and prepared by native cultured pallets….all of this with room and board free. This week and the next we are staying with a young and very busy family in the town of Velletri, just an hour south of Rome. With mostly sunny temperatures and a week of satisfying work under our belt, I can say it’s been a pleasing and relaxed week (especially in comparison to our experiences in LeMarche!).

Our current home is a room in a lovely and modern B&B, located upstairs in the Ranzioner family home. Our hosts are Paul, a Scottish dad who’s lived in Italy since taking his job with the United Nations 17 years ago, and his wife Paola, a native Rome-born Italian mom who’s just as pre-occupied and distracted as any mom and independent business owner in the US would be. Paul commutes to his job in Rome by the train everyday and loves to do all his outside work maintaining the property on the weekends. He also plays his bagpipes regularly, takes accordion lessons, and hosts parties in their backyard with Scottish folk-dancing. Paola mainly runs the upstairs B&B, as well as keeping up the vegetable garden, chasing and taxiing around her kids all day, and holding the household together. Paul and Paola have three children, aged 8, 10 and 13, who we think have a pretty cool life living on this large property in Italy with abounding space and nature to explore. So far this week has been a huge contrast compared to our previous farm stays, because we’re living with a very busy family rather than just outdoor-work-minded adults. Conversations around the dinner table are not centered around various cultural things or the vegetable garden, but rather they are typically about homework that needs to be done or music lessons that need to be practiced, with a little bit of whining thrown in. This is usually spoken in Italian, with Travis and I listening in. The whole family speaks both Italian and English fluently, and they switch back and forth easily when including us into conversation. This is a “real” Italian-living family, and Travis and I are just dropping into their lives for a short time. Again, it’s an interesting way to travel; we’re doing daily life as the locals do daily life.

With the hopes of starting a family soon ourselves, this experience has triggered a lot of interesting commentary between Travis and I about child-rearing and parenting skills. “Would you have let him get away with that?” “How would you have handled that situation?” It’s pretty interesting to observe it all, especially with the dual languages. All in the all though, the family is incredibly hospitable and charming, and we feel right at home playing legos with the kids on the floor, or holding their hands walking down the city streets. The kids are exceptionally friendly, as they must be very used to strangers living in their home and giving a hand with all the extra work. Actually, it’s a pretty good arrangement for them… with us sometimes doing things like setting and clearing the table, they get out of many of those typical “kid jobs” that I remember dreading as a child. Lucky them! Overall, our work has been flexible and varied, including everything from weed whacking, hedging and gardening, to cleaning the B&B rooms or helping out in cooking the meals. They are very laid-back and have encouraged us to take days off (unlike our last hosts), which is why we’re taking a weekend break and heading south today.

An enriching highlight of our stay occurred last week Sunday night, when we accompanied the Ranzioners on an evening outing to the center of town for a festive holiday celebration. The Italian holiday was Labor Day, and this town celebrated with its annual 1000+ person procession of the ornamented Madonna being carried through the city streets. Each townsperson walked single-file, some singing and chanting, and they carried with them a huge white candle (we’re talking about the size of one of my legs). Some even walked these 2-3 miles on the cobblestone barefoot, because it’s believed this offers some type of stronger offering or prayer to the Virgin Mary. Hmmm…. Interesting. Thousands of people were packed in the city streets, and those who weren’t there were peering off their balconies surrounded by their blooming potted plants. It was a great evening to just take a pause, look around, and experience the local way of life. It was also especially fun to attend this local event with a family, watching them run into all of their neighbors on the streets and catch up in the weekend’s happenings. We were also probably the only tourists in town, which made the evening even more authentic. To top off the celebration, Paul and Paola took us to a neighborhood Trattoria, where we enjoyed a tasty meal sharing antipasto and pasta together. What a treat! Afterward we watched the kids beg and beg until their parents gave in and treated them all to a cone of gelato. Very charming…. Very Italian.

On Sunday:
So I’ll finish writing this blog tonight as we are returning from our trip and riding the train back from Naples. What a gorgeous weekend it was! The Amalfi Coast was absolutely mesmerizing with its craggy rocky cliffs, picturesque pastel-painted homes layering the mountainsides, and the aqua-blue water of the Mediterranean Sea glistening below. I think I said, “Travis, look at that, it’s beautiful!” over a hundred times these last few days. We based our weekend out of the enchanting town of Sorrento, and from there took day trips to the flawless and celebrity-stunted island of Capri, and the towns of Positano, Amalfi and Ravello along the Amalfi Coast. Today we headed back into Naples to catch our train and took the opportunity to explore this wild and intense city (as the guide books say).

Overall, we finish this weekend being grandly impressed; it was definitely one of the most incredible places we’ve visited all year. Although the Amalfi Coast was splattered with tourists from all over the world, we were so happy to have traveled here in May rather than the overwhelmingly busy summer months. Apparently during this time, especially during the Italian vacation month of August, you can hardly walk along the coast because of the beach towels covering the ground with Speedo clad Italian men, women in designer bikinis, and kids slurping up their cones of gelato. There was definitely some of this to observe, but probably only a fraction of what is soon to come. What we will say is that this was a pretty difficult place to go when you’re trying to stick with a tight budget. The buses and ferry rides alone add up, not to mention the food. But hey, we’ll probably only be here once, right? Doesn’t that make the amazingly rich cone of gelato worth the 4 euros? Absolutely. When else can you enjoy the flavors of limonchello (the lemons in this region are bigger than grapefruits), pistachio, nutella or tiramisu with such vibrancy? Good thing we also know how to utilize the grocery stores and delicatessens to pack a great picnic. It’s the only way to go.

The people watching on Capri and Amalfi was worth the trip alone. You of course have your colorful mix of working locals combined with the typical Euro-tourists and some Americans thrown in. But this place was different from most other places we’ve visited this year in that the ultra-elite classes from this region of the world were very present. From the plethora of Prada bags to Italian leather shoes, fashion defines much of Italian culture. It’s hard not to pick up on exactly what colors and styles are currently “in.” Just park yourself on a bench for a while in a popular piazza and watch the families with strollers in tow, bustling teenagers and the meandering older adults promenade before you. The best time for this is around 6pm just past siesta, when everyone comes out for a stroll.

In total contrast to our time in Amalfi were these last few hours today in Naples. Naples is known to be a city you either love or hate, with intensity stronger than that of Rome. We’d say it lived up to its reputation. Within moments of departing the train station, we were just about whisked away crossing the street by the wild youngsters riding in twos or threes aboard their mopeds. Boisterous Italian accents echoed the street alleys, women shouted to each other from their balconies while hanging their laundry, and vendors below tried to sell their fresh catches of the day. This was the Italy that places like “Little Italy” in New York are modeled after. We dined amongst only locals at one of the oldest pizzerias in Italy, where it’s known to be one of two of the original pizza places that created the famous Pizza Margarita. The experience was rewarding and the crust was unforgettable. A perfect ending to our Neapolitan weekend.