Secret Italy

Parque Nazionale di Abruzzo,

2 hrs from Rome and full of Bears!

So I was on the hunt for bears and truffles

since it now truffle harvest season

And low and behold I found both,

one not pictured here cause they are

in my stomach

Don't be confused, this is Italy, not

New Zealand. But even I didn't realize

how beautiful the mountains are just

a few hours from Rome

Small medieval town of Scanno, Abruzzo, Italia,

my most recent weekend sojourn

There may be no "real" beaches in Monte Argentario,

but there are unbelievable beach clubs set into the rocks

with catering galore, floating rafts, speedos, and the glistening

Mediterranean - only caveat you must know an Italian to get in
Yes please

The sunset from Monte Argentario,

looking out at the island of Giglio

When I haven't had visitors over the last two months I've tried to squeeze in as weekend trips as my days in Italy appear to be numbered. And as I realized in New Zealand, you don't actually feel like you live somewhere or start to feel normalish until about the six month. So here's a bit of what I've been up to in "my real life" in Italy and a few new things I've discovered:

The Best of Italy: Italians are brilliant in that they distract tourists with the David, duomos galore, pasta, the Colosseum, you know all that ancient stuff, and then they sit back and laugh while lounging in the most beautiful natural places that they keep to themselves and make hard to find. I've recently discovered, thanks to three nice Italians, three beautiful places in Italy I had never heard of and I could not possibly access without a car and a family name. I get it Italy - keep the best for yourselves, but while you're doing it, could you at least be a bit more friendly with a stray American who actually lives here? I promise I won't tell. These three secrets are staying safe with me in the hopes I get invited back or invited even further into what is secret Italy...

How to Be More Italian: When I walk around Rome people, mostly shopkeepers will yell at me in English, and I often wonder, "How do they know I'm not Italian?". I also pondered this with a few of my visitors and we couldn't figure it out. Now at first Italians when you ask them this will tell you things like - because your hair is blonde (yes to them I am a blonde even though there are many real Italians with hair far lighter than mine), because your eyes are blue (again many Italians with blue eyes), because you're tall (again). So the mystery for me continued and I wondered, how/what I can I do to be more Italian, what am I missing? My friend Claudio finally broke it down for me, while continually telling me he didn't want to offend me, and here's what he said:

1) My hair is too wild, or in American terms - undid. And after all this time I thought I was

becoming a lady by drying my hair, apparently not enough to pass as an Italian. Claudio

instructed me that I would need to at least visit the salon once a month if I was poor, and

once a week if I have any money. Mind you this conversation with Claudio occurred exactly two weeks after a haircut so I'm really in trouble. I guess my two visits per year are not cutting it - literally

2) My face is too natural - Claudio told me I don't wear enough makeup to be

Italian, ESPECIALLY the fact that I don't wear lipstick or foundation - dead give away.

3) My walk - Claudio instructed me that Italians walk like they are in a fashion show and with the one goal for everyone to look at them. My walking with a purpose and especially

making eye contact while I walk or smiling is not going to make me an Italian

4) My eyes - No not the color, but "the sincerity". Apparently Italians always look at

people with a certain level of skepticism and my eyes are too frank, too open.

5) My dress - this one I knew and is made more difficult between seasons like spring and

fall when it is not blazing hot nor freezing. Apparently I dress to openly (meaning my cardigan over my shirt is unbuttoned instead of buttoned up to my neck) and with too much color and I wear sandals and shorts too late/early in the season, and my clothes

are too loose. In case you weren't aware, Italians for some reason feel cold far more than

we do and at the same time have an obsession with boots and dark colors.

So the challenge is on, I am now going to see if I can't trick a few people (that is before I open my mouth, obvi) into thinking I'm Italian. At the same time, there's a few things I'm unwilling to compromise on - namely my dress. I refuse to wear winter gear when it is 80 degrees out still, and luckily winter will help me with this come December. In the meantime, I'm going to work on adding some skepticism to my eyes, sashaying down the sidewalk, while wearing lipstick with my hair did. Photos to come

Cooking and Eating - I've finally gotten into a rhythm with cooking and general ingredient having in my house - of course always prosciutto, three kinds of cheeses, flour, sugar, coffee, and milk. And with that I can make almost anything with a trip to the local veg/fruit market. Similar to NZed, Italians don't mess around with nonsense or pre-prepared items in cooking. Everything is simple and easy to make from scratch. I've taken to making a batch of pesto, hummus, and bread at the start of every week, even though the amount of garlic I put in my pesto and hummus would be abhorrent to any Italian. This week I also conquered a cinnamon nutella cake, baked eggplant parm layered with prosciutto, and realized soaking fresh mozzarella in truffle oil is synonymous with, or even better than, floating with my boobs in the Mediterranean. Now I haven't conquered making gnocchi yet and if you saw the size of my kitchen you would understand why, but it is on my list in these next 90 days before I have to (maybe) leave.

La Bella Figura - I alluded to it on many a previous post, but la bella figura is an expression in Italian to mean - making a good impression, but it carries much more significance that is not translatable. I've struggled since I've arrived with how to really live in Italy and somehow rectify living here with all the things of guidebooks, movies, novels, and all your expectations. In March, I searched desperately for a book that would help me with this quest and make me feel like what I was experiencing was more normal. I was continually annoyed and disgusted by the countless books on rehabing a farmhouse, eating your way across Italy, or falling in love while being scootered around Rome and Tuscany. Now while I'm not saying those things don't happen here, there is also real life apart and part of the fantasy that is most of what you hear back in the States. Well, where was my good friend Beppe when I needed him? I finally found a book, just released called La Bella Figura, all about the true Italian spirit and written for a non-Italian audience. We should have collaborated since he includes many subjects included here like "food facism" such as not being allowed to order a cappuccino after 11am or the horror on Italians faces if you sprinkle parmesan on a pasta dish with seafood, or the treatment you encounter when walking into a clothing shop versus a hotel. He also has enlightened me on the why of many things I experience here. For one, Italian's obsession with the aesthetic, or in layman's terms all things beautiful. Now a lot of this I love and have embraced - like the careful setting of a table or always having fresh flowers; but it also explains why things not so pretty don't get done/attended to. Beppe's next book is due out in October on how Berlusconi has managed to stay in power for over 15 years (the longest leader since Mussolini). Anyway, needless to say, Beppe is my new best friend and confidante

Friends - And speaking of friends and confidantes. I often joke here about the difficulty of making friends while living abroad, but Italy and FAO have truly given me a whole new ballgame. First, Italians are very insular especially if you don't speak Italian well. Mostly because they stay close to home and value family and friends from childhood and don't really veer from that circle. Second, FAO is a constant coming and going of international people and you never know how long anyone will stay. Two of my closest friends when I came - Lidia and Nick, have already departed for Germany and Sierra Leone. And now another two close friends - Simone and Marat are off to Budapest and Sweden. And Giuseppe travels 80 percent of the time. All of which finds me somewhere in the region between transient international friends and insular Italians with my quasi quasi Italian, and calling an author my new confidante. At the same time, I feel so busy with social requests and invitations that I'm not sure I could handle more "friends" here in Italy, especially if I'm ever going to rehab that farmhouse or master Italian cooking

-What's Next? - many of you have asked me when I'm coming "home" or what's next.....well your guess is as good as mine. My contract expires Dec 14th and my Visa expires Dec 31st, so unless I do as those books say and fall in love real quick and get married in a rehabbed countryhouse, while riding there on a scooter, and making the whole feast myself with my Italian culinary skills - my days in Italy are numbered. Next destination - TBD, all offers are welcome