It’s Always a Question of Love

It passed a long time since the last time I felt the urge to write.

At the moment I’m on the ferry that will take me to Napoli, after 3 weeks spent in Ischia Island, in the south of Italy.

I have tears in my eyes, I’m happy and grateful for all the wonderful experiences I lived in the last weeks, but at the same time I feel also sad. A contrast of emotions that makes me feel alive.

In the last months my life completely changed. I left a country that I really loved, where I thought I would spend the rest of my life, a country that gave me a lot, but were I didn’t find my place.

I came back to my hometown after 8 years abroad, with little fears of being disappointed by my expectations. But once again I was amazed by the beauty of my lake and my mountains, by the kindness of the people, the relaxing atmosphere you can feel all around you.

But a traveler will always be a citizen of the world, looking forward to his next destination. So I didn’t even spent 2 months in Lavena Ponte Tresa, that my luggage was ready for my new journey.

I took a train to Napoli, and as soon as I arrived to the city I felt I arrived to a completely different world. Few days were enough to be touch by the Neapolitan heart. The welcome that the city and its citizens offered me left me more than once without words.

People met in the street that leave everything they were doing to show you around the city. People that invite you in their houses for a coffee even if you just met them 5 minutes before. People that bring happiness to everyone singing Neapolitan songs.  People shouting in dialect something that you don’t really understand but that makes you smile.

The feeling that Napoli left me was pure happiness. In Napoli you don’t need to do great things to enjoy your stay, it’s enough walking into its streets and be opened to everything that can happen.

While travelling, alongside to the city’s life, there is the hostel life, that I missed for long time. In the hostel you meet other travelers like you, but with different stories to share. I spent evenings talking for hours with strangers till falling asleep, continuing our stories the morning after during breakfast. During the day, each one of us was travelling alone or in little groups, but every evening this routine was repeating once again. We shared memories of past adventures, of the day that just passed, we suggested to each other new places to visit, we shared information of the countries where we were coming from, we taught each other our language, our recipes. A hostel is like a world in miniature, where in a dorm you can met people coming from different realities.

I spent in Napoli only one week, visiting different places every day, when I decided to spend few days in Ischia,  an island near Napoli, before coming back to Napoli and visiting the rest of the city. Things didn’t really go as planned (as always). One week became 2 weeks. Two weeks became 3 weeks and if it wasn’t for major reason involving my job, weeks could easily have become months.

I completely fell in love with the island, with its rhythm, its wild nature, but most of all with the people I met there. I love the way that travelling connects people. Few days can be enough to make us feel close to each other, in a way that probably would not happen in a ‘’normal’’ life. Different countries, cultures, languages, ages, religions are the aspects that unites us in their diversities. I met people coming from far away countries, volunteers, working travelers, tourists on holidays, locals, immigrants,  students trying to improve their Italian.

I will probably meet again some of them in the future, with others I will only stay in contact through internet, and with some I will just lose contacts, but each one of them left me something that I will always keep in my heart.

As Roberto Benigni once said :

It’s Always a Question of Love