Before we came to Italy I was aware that I had not actually had pizza until I ate it in Italy, that pasta can be gluten full and you are fine in Italy (something that we are yet to fully test), that buildings are old only if they pre-date Jesus and one takes ones time savouring ones espresso so that it lasts longer than most people take to chug a venti vanilla-mocha-almond milk-frozen coffee drink from Starbucks. However the most underrated and possibly best kept secret that ironically should in no way be a secret is that the people are quite frankly legends.
I don’t know how this has escaped the news or at least my “news.” For I have known that us Brits are jolly nice and can talk about the weather for hours on end. This by the way is a catching illness. I have a great friend who is Colimbian and recently moved to Wimbledon, (obviously). This guy is one of the most genuine people I know and can talk about anything to anyone yet the other day he texted me about the weather! The French are, well French, the Aussies never dull and the Americans, well we are just embarrassed right now, but no one seems to talk about the Italians.
My nameless friend pictured above from Senegal came across us on the beach. French became out mutual language and while I cannot be sure that I was being coherent at all times he never missed a beat and yes flattered me by asking if I was from Paris! He was a joy to talk to and had an amazing energy to go with his beaming smile. He has not been our first Senegalese and each and everyone has been fantastic. I hear you doubters saying that well he is selling you something or that he is not Italian, so to that I say lets talk about one of the most thankless jobs one can find that often bring about the most bitter people…..parking attendants! I remember the day in Boston that I ran up to such a person as she was approaching my parking ticketless car. She could have stopped and let me jump in and drive away but rather she chose a different route and in turn I chose a somewhat unfriendly route to counteract. A stoney discussion ensued to which I lost and have never quite gotten over it. So today when, after about 2 hours hours of walking around Alberobello I realized that we had not purchased a parking ticket I ran back to our car (having pinged it this time) to find a parking attendant making circles around my vehicle. Ready to do battle and with Zach at my side I ran up crying out all the Italian words I knew “senori, senori.” (That is all I know). I was not about to go down without a fight and I would show my son how to handle these situations. What happened next completely disarmed me. Said parking attendant, turned to me and in perfect English calmly asked ” are you buying a ticket sir?” To which I replied “absolutely.” He then proceeded to escort me, a la Four Seasons, to the ticket machine, explain in painstaking detail how the machine worked and then when my 2 Euro gave me until 4:01pm told me that there is a 20 minute grace period! What a legend!!!!
So, while the sights, the sea, the food and the wine are all well worth it I highly recommend coming just for the people.