5 Years to the Day: January 12 2015 – January 12, 2020

I guess this of all days is the day to be thinking about writing a blog post about my Italian adventure.. This day of all days.. Five years ago, I got on a night flight to Rome. Knowing I wanted to enter Arpino in the day light, got a car, found the hotel in Fiumicino close to the airport, went to sleep and was up and on the road by 07.30. These romantic pictures from the internet ad fueling my imagination.

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

If I had only known then, what I know now.. would I have gotten on that plane, gotten in that car… made that drive… ?

I honestly don’t know the answer to that. Hindsight is 20/20 and I have about 0/10 these days.. so even with all I know now.. all the understanding and knowledge I have gained, all the lies I have uncovered and all the truths I have had the privilege to learn.. would I have gotten in the car, started this journey on my own, had I the vaguest idea of what I was in for?? I honestly can say, if I had known, I am not sure I would have made that drive….

But that is actually not relevant, is it? I got in that car and honestly never got out. I stayed on that journey, and perhaps coming into the home stretch (although this is Italy and I can not imagine there is a home stretch!). And if I had to put the columns of pros and cons against each other – again simply weighing the journey – not the house – not the south of Rome, but the journey.. I can say – Yes, it has definitely been worth it.

It has been what I said I wanted – out loud and to myself – when I first saw this 500 meter, 18 room property – a project for my 60s.. And that it has been! The most fantastic of all projects giving me insight in a way I never could have imagined into Italian life, culture, people, even law. The opportunity to see and experience a country in a way that no tourist ever could and at the same time testing me in more ways than one could imagine. It is a creative outlet, an education in ancient building engineering, heating, plumbing and electricity; a test of how to take life, a lesson on how to laugh, enjoy and appreciate the most basic necessities and see the tiniest detail, knowing every step that got that item into its correct place, 450 meters above sea level to an ancient Roman town, to a large old palazzo, up a street barely a meter wide that has two way traffic! The stories there are to tell….

But what has absolutely made this journey worthwhile – is the people that I have met directly or indirectly because of the house and the adventures we have. Memories that we have made and the experiences we have had, could fill a book and each one different, full of life and passion and every emotion in between – from fields of tiles, to the outlet store of curtain materials to charades in the living room with friends from 5 different countries to the antique market in Arezzo to the paint store in Sora to the old man who made the fireplace in his youth…

And along the way and perhaps this is JUST the way and the point… bringing an ancient palazzo that had experienced years of neglect, back to some kind of beauty.. not its original, not what it was.. but a new beauty … the result of many talented people who add their love, passion, dedication, art and vision to create a place to experience the best of life.

 

 

 

Happy 2020 to All!