Homesick for Italy?

Totally! I miss wandering around florence or driving between hilltowns or enjoying a gelato or people-watching in a piazza and the view from Piazzale michelangelo and the gregorian chants in San Miniato al Monte, the fresh croissants and cappuccino for breakfast even at middle-of-nowhere gas stations, and on and on.

I just have to start planning (and saving for) the next trip as soon as I come home, gives me something to look forward to!

I totally feel I was mis-born and that I am really italian! LOL!

One of my favorite memories was talking with our Roman cab driver and telling him that even though I don't have a drop of Italian blood, I think I have an Italian heart.

Hi Elizabeth. I can totally relate! I've been to Italy twice & I'm longing to go a third time (hopefully in 2012) but not a day goes by that I don't think about Italy & not a week goes by that I don't dream of George Clooney inviting me to live in his villa on Lake Como!! LOL.

I long for the gelato, the cheese, the pasta, and did I mention the gelato?! I love the passion that Italians have for life and their tendency to slow down & enjoy life more. I miss the wonderful agriturismo that we stayed in near Siena & the homemade meals that were incredible. I miss Venice (as touristy as it is, I find it magical) and long to get lost in the back canals. I miss Rome and at times over the past few months since visiting Rome have wondered what it would be like to live there.

Thanks for your post. It brought back great memories and I take comfort in knowing that I'm not the only one obsessed with Italy!

You are so right....Italy is addictive!!

I not only think about Venice during the day...I dream about it at night.

Recently I dreamt of a new Venetian restaurant called H. It was an incredible blend of the ancient and contemporary. The lighting was unique....as you entered the restaurant it looked as if you were in a B& W movie......and the view from the outdoor seating area....outta this world.
Can I wait til November to return?
The only way possible is to read everything I can get my hands on that relates to Venice.

Oh this post has fired me up more than I already am for my next visit to Italy in September. I love it...all of it. Venice, Tuscany,Rome hot springs running down the side of a mountain. Yes indeed I long for it. And I didn't know the George Clooney lives in Lake Como??? OMG...I am going to the Venice Film Festival so I'll seem him twice..OH indeed Italy is a dream .
Pat

Oh do I Long for Positano. I was there for 2 weeks at this time in 2008. I kept a daily log and am now reliving each moment of every day 2 years later. Nancy

I recently read a book on HANNIBAL by Harold Lamb (1958, Doubleday, probably out of print) and his 15 years fighting the Romans in 200 or so BC. He was all over the country after he crossed the Alps with elephants. I wanted to go back and see the country again.

It's been several years since I last visited Italy, but want to go back next year. Incidentally, I had my DNA analyzed a couple of years ago and found that my genes lean heavily toward a Mediterranean ancestry, most likely from my mother's side.

Great post Elizabeth! I agree with you that my Norwegian heritage is surely an error and I truly am Italian! The wine, food, vistas of Tuscany, elegance of Florence, gregorian chants of Sant Antimo, history of Rome and the Italian lust for life call to me every day! I am now taping the show David Rocco's Dolce Vita on The Cooking Channel because it has great scenes of Florence, and it will be a couple of years before I get back! Now off to review my photo album!

I became an Italian when I married an Italian.!

I love visiting his father's little village in Abruzzo, eating that wonderful food, watching the activities of Festa, on and on and on...

Not to mention Venice, Florence, Positano, Porto San Stefano, Orvieto, Massa Lubrense, Lanciano, and on and on and on...

Thanks for the post Elizabeth!

Safe travels.

Once you've seen Italy, North America feels temporary and not long enough in existence to even have a unique culture.

Is there anything in North America that even compares to the longevity, the layers, the history, or the food of Italy?

Even though my wife and I have struggled with the language, Italy makes MORE sense to us than living in the USA.

And if I won a lotto, we would move there in a heart beat.

Totally agree. Last vestiges of the
sun twinkling on the Grand Canal, the beauty of Venice and Tuscany, and the layers upon layers of history in Florence and Rome. Vino, food, passagiata. Yep, if we won the lottery I would definitely want to go and stay there awhile.

You are so right about the history. It is such a deep sense of connection.

My dream? To live in Italy 3 months out of the year.

I just read a good book....she talks a lot about Tuscan history, especially Montalcino.

The book is titled...Vanilla Beans and Brodo, written by Isabella Dusi.

I can see I'm not the only one afflicted with this. There is rarely an hour that goes by that I dont think of Italy. I count the hours till I return. Hopefully next summer for me.

I miss all of it so much. I'm trying to convince my girls that they'd rather go to Italy for next summers vacation, but they would all rather go somewhere there's a beach and palm trees! Teenagers!!

Ah yes... Bella Italia! I too miss everything about Italy: fields of Spring poppies; savoring lovely pasta steaming from the kitchen where Nonna dishes the plates and son & daughter argue over whose to enjoy; hacky sack or impromptu football (soccer) games in the piazza; wind in my face on the ferry across Lago Trasimeno; enjoying a meal with perfect strangers (who later became friends) at Mario Trattoria in Florence; church bells - oh, and being inside the Campanile while they all went off... need I go on. I fear Italy is in my blood now... I know the wine is. Ciao!

I have been obsessed with Italy since our 1st trip in 1980. I re-established contact with my family in Calabria and we went to meet them. All communication stopped after 1939 and WWII. I have been back 13 times and #14 will be in August.

Buon viaggio,

RB

Wife and I have been so very blessed to travel to many beautiful parts of the world. Italy is the first place to really steal my heart. We both knew when we arrived that we were "home". Every day for me includes some time lost to dreams of another trip back to where I really wnat to be. Great post. These very feelings are what travel should do to you. Ciao, Jeff

We returned from Italy two weeks ago. Yesterday, I heard church bells for the first time since I've been home and it instantly made me thing of Italy. I realized we were hearing them all the time when we were there but I probably didn't think much of it.

Can't wait to go back...

We spent two months in March and April this year and a month in 2007.
When we got home we started to make plans to go back next March and April and take our children and grand-children because we want them to experience, if not all of Italy as we did, but a taste of Florence and Tuscany.
Our grand- children are all still in school, the oldest will be a Junior in high school. Only one set of grand-children live here in Dallas. One family on the west coast and one on the east coast. It will be difficult as well as expensive ( and we are retired and not wealthy) but we think everyone should experience Italy. We are not at all of Italian decent nor have we been anywhere else in Europe. But there is something about being there that calls you back.

Jerry and Stelly

Well, I think you all must read "The Reluctant Tuscan" by Phil Doran. Saw it in the travel section of a bookstore, took it on our Italy trip last month, but of course was tooooo busy eating and walking to read while there. Started it on the way home, and boy, was I glad!! His description of interacting with the Italians would not have been nearly so funny had I not actually just witnessed the same things. I do Love, love, love Italy! I am half Swedish, married an Italian -- it was our first trip there - I don't think I can state one thing in particular I miss just yet; give me a couple more weeks. But my husband says "gelato" at least once a day! (I'm still looking for anything close to our favorite Florence gelato around So Cal...)

I took my first trip to Italy this past May and look forward to a return trip. I have listened to a wonderful song by Mary Chapin Carpenter called " What if we went to Italy" for years. Always loved it, and now it has more meaning than ever. It is on her CD called "A Place in the World" Give it a listen!