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A three-minute escape to Italy.

Tuscany, travel, medieval village, Italy, festivals, celebrations, customs, cooking, recipes, living in Italy, moving to Italy, visiting, visit, restaurants, language

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August 24, 2018 In About, Live By Nancy

Mostly out of control, nearly all the time

I’ve always been a bit of a control freak, thinking that if I can get the most in-depth information, take my vitamin D3, get the “best” teachers for my kids, walk 10,000 steps a day, and have just the right black cashmere sweater, that I may be able to slightly control life’s path. So stupid really, but inescapable for me.

Moving to a small village that seems to operate in its own dimension and century, navigating another culture, getting along in a language I barely speak, all these things have not only blown away any illusions I had of control, but have made me realize that I can function quite well in life having basically no idea what is going on around me most of the time. And that, in some ways, is a tremendous relief. Because I have to trust those around me to an astounding degree. Maybe it’s part of what has drawn me to stay.

The way we ended up choosing our village set the tone for this shift. When we decided to have a one-year family adventure, we didn’t do a grand tour of villages to check out the schools, talk to locals about expat life, and look at possible housing choices. Quite to the contrary, initially we were set on a major European city with a well-connected airport and lots going on culturally. Partially to reassure ourselves (and we thought better justify to our clients) that our year abroad would be “worth it”.

But the kids kept asking for more of an adventure (as did our hearts), so we decided to find a choice that was as different from our lives in Berkeley as possible. And it turned out true adventure for us was a small village, in Italy, a country that we had never been particularly romanced by, but had citizenship in through John’s grandparents.

We scoured the internet for year-long vacation rentals and found it—a beautifully restored apartment in a mostly unrestored convent from the 1600s in a small Tuscan village. And we decided, sight unseen, about the village, and place to live. And moved. And let everything fall into place. Which it did beyond what any amount of careful planning could have yielded.

It was one of the first times I found myself surfing the wave rather than thinking about how to surf the wave. And one of the oddest things of our new life was that, leading up the one-year mark, when we had to find another place to live, we never had a family discussion about whether to stay or go—all of us were coming into ourselves in such profound ways that it never even came up to go back to our old life.

And it keeps unfolding—this not being well-informed or on top of anything, but feeling like that’s the right thing. And that is at the heart of Itch, the spirit of adventure, leaps of faith, amazement, struggle, failure, and joy.

July 10, 2018 In About, Best Of By Nancy

So I find myself…

…sitting in a house that’s somewhere between 400 and 800 years old in a Tuscan village thinking about what to do if I meet a wild boar again while taking a walk, business development for the company I run, what one more year in an Italian high school will mean for my teenage son, and what to have for dinner—all at the same time.

We are almost six years into the adventure of responding to a deep, unrelenting urge to change our lives, an itch, if you will, that inspired our move to Italy—enrolling the kids in the local school (where they started off not speaking any Italian), working with clients all over the world from our homebase in this Italian village, and finding our way in a new life.

Friends, understandably, ask questions. “Do the kids feel more Italian or American, and which parts of their attitudes come from which culture?” “What do the locals think of you?” “What do you actually do all day—don’t you get bored? ” “Where can we go in Venice to escape the crowds and see real neighborhoods?” “Where should we get dinner in Florence?”

So lately I’ve discovered a different kind of itch—a desire to answer these questions and more. Hence the birth of Itch, my notes about food discoveries, language insights, surprising cultural moments, and ideas for adventures in Italy, shared as we live them, weekly.

I invite you to come along for the journey and share with like-minded friends.

July 8, 2018 In About By Nancy

Love Italy?

“Italy,” she said in italics, every syllable elongated.

I’ve never been the person who said that. Despite earnest vacation attempts, I’d never fallen in love with Italy as an aspiration, or a lifestyle. I’ve always had more of a crush on France “France” or rural England. But having moved here six years ago Italy has deeply seduced me into being a quivering pile of, well, that may be revealed in a future issue.

Here, every day is unexpected in a way that feels like driving off-road from my old life, whether I’m buying a live “replacement” chicken for a neighboring grandmother after our dog killed one of hers, accidentally calling the carpenters working on our house “witches” instead of by their last name, or being the only woman in a meeting of all men when they all simultaneously grab their balls for good luck when an inauspicious comment is made.

I want to share what I am responding to, every day, living here. Why life feels different, and a bit more technicolor.

My goal is to surprise and delight you every week, whether you’re looking for a three-minute Italian escape while at work, or are an Italophile planning your next vacation. Or even, maybe, wondering “if this is it” and are curious about what it’s like to dive head-first into a new life.

In the weekly newsletter, and on the site, you’ll find articles broken down by topic:

Live: Here I’ll share what it’s like to live here. The moments that appeal, challenge, amaze, and puzzle me every day, and those amazing words and phrases in Italian that you need to know because they are so damn wonderful.

Chow: If you’re drawn to Italy for the food, you’re not alone. I’ll be sharing my favorite local foods and ingredients, plus exceptional restaurants and farms. There will also be recipes and even a few videos of grandmothers cooking their favorites.

Roam: Ideas for day trips to little-known villages, spas, adventures, beaches, hikes, hidden corners of cities, and more.

There’s more to come…

Not every inspiring moment fits into a category, especially here. I’ll share other bits and pieces that I think you might like as we live them.

Glad you are here, and I’d would love to hear what you think. If you have friends who would enjoy Itch, please invite them to share the adventure.