your 'rents really get italy, and they remind me so much of many americans i have met, especially working massage.
siena area was my stomping ground for 3 years, and i massaged at the scacciapensieri hotel many times.
the name means 'thoughts-chaser', and like so many old hotels here, stone flippin' gorgeous.
americans have a lot of myths about italy, and it is always touching to hear from them how much they have learned about humanity from the italians, and how well treated they have felt, (with some exceptions, lol!)
my mother was from salerno, just down the coast from amalfi, and we used to go there in the summer, during the 50's and 60's. it is simply the most felicitous marriage of habitat and scenery i have ever seen, and romantic to an almost painful degree.
18 years old, and reduced to living on chestnuts to survive, she watched the allied landing on the beaches below from rapallo lookout, and then some weeks later married the commanding officer of the british forces, who was almost 60! (not my dad!)
her ashes were returned to the amalfi coast, as were my dad's 7 years later.
so for yanking my emotional chain, this diary takes the cake...sentimental mush, i am, reminded so viscerally how much i love italy, and am so incredibly grateful for a chance to live amongst the italians, who never fail to astound me with their reserves of good will and heartfeltness, i am always shocked by how little emotional affirmation other societies are content to settle for, and returning from a trip abroad, a simple visit to a breadshop or hardware store will open my heart up again, as the gently jocular, familiar tones of this lovely language caress my inner ear, and remind me how good life can be.
thanks so much for sharing this at ET, poemless, it's beautiful, your father-in-law's comments are priceless, in their humour, and also because his enjoyment of the same things i love about here is so transparently obvious.
wonderful travelogue, fun and fascinating, especially for the inter-culture stuff...
they were troupers, and will carry the memories for the rest of their lives, what a treat to meet them here! ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
As for getting Italy, it might also have something to do with the fact that Paul's family is Sicilian, just a couple of generations removed. They are Americans, but very Italian in their ways. "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
