I don’t design trips. I design transformations, for people who want to stop being tourists in Italy and start belonging there. Language, culture, identity, woven into one.
The sad you in Italy
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My friend Colleen sent me a video yesterday. I spilled my coffee laughing at the kitchen table. It is a sketch with Adam Sandler. He plays a guy from New Jersey (Romano Tours) who takes Americans to Italy. He looks into the camera and delivers the absolute truth about arriving in Italy. ll quote a few lines so you can laugh with me. If you are sad now, and get on a plane to Italy, then the you in Italy will be the same sad you from before. Just in a new place. We can provide you with a wine tasting in Tuscany We cannot change why you drink. In his exact words: that is a job for incremental lifestyle changes sustained over time. It cannot fix deeper issues. Why am I telling you this? Because people hope Italy will magically fix them. They want a geographic cure. Italy does not work that way. It gives back exactly what you bring to it. If you arrive expecting the scenery to change you, you will get a polite smile and a plastic menu. You will look at the Italian life from the outside. You will leave with nothing but an expense with photographs. Belonging in Italy is not inherited. It is built. It is exactly what the video says: an incremental lifestyle change sustained over time. It requires you to change your posture before you pack your bags. I am using Adam Sandler as a filter today. If you realize he is describing your approach to Italy, we are not a match. I am the wrong door for you. But if you are ready to do the actual work of belonging. If you want to be expected somewhere instead of just passing through. Hit reply and tell me. A presto, Fabiana la Capitana, I can show you how to belong in Italy. But I cannot force you to do the work. |
Fabiana Stringa
I don’t design trips. I design transformations, for people who want to stop being tourists in Italy and start belonging there. Language, culture, identity, woven into one.
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