March 18, 2024

This has been the craziest week ever. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a blog debt as this! Forgive any things I brush over. Last weekend I was in Matera, which was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been in my life. If MC Escher had an Italian phase, he would have designed Matera. A labyrinthine old town built in and around ancient caves, all of local light stone, illuminated orange at night, all just so amazing. 

From Matera, I took a bus to Salerno, stopping in Potenza, and a quick train to Napoli after a couple minutes of walking around in Salerno. Last year, the weekend I spent there was my first solo travel, and really my first ever solo adventure, where I fell in love with the freedom of setting out without much of a plan. A nice full circle moment. 

My time in Napoli was really nice. I think there’s a good case to be made that it is the best food city in the world. I arrived on Sunday and got in line at La Pizzeria Antiche da Michele, the most famous pizzeria in Napoli. It was worth the couple hours of waiting. Between Sunday and when we left on Thursday, I probably had half a dozen pizzas. So freaking good.

I won’t dote on a description of Napoli, beyond the face that it’s just the gritty, authentic, heart on the sleeve epitome of Italy. If Milan is the country’s brain, Rome is its heart, then Napoli is the proud and prominent gut. It’s awesome. I had a lot of work and was only able to get around a little bit, but that’s totally okay. That whole week I’d been taking it easy, getting lots of sleep and water, and eating healthy (a couple dinners of spinach, yogurt, protein shake, and apples), in preparation for an awesome week. 

On Wednesday afternoon, my mom arrived. We had a teary reunion in the middle of the biggest walking street in the historic center of Napoli and spent the whole day walking around. After checking into our airBnB, a cute little studio on a hillside drip of homes that are all only accessible by tiny little stairs. We hiked up a million stairs to Castel St Elmo, which has a fantastic panoramic view of the city, including Vesuvio. We got to the top right in time to catch the sunset which was a deep orange. A dusk down-hike led us right into the Spanish Quarter, where we got a couple Spritzes, then walked along the promenade, and finally found a tiny little local restaurant for dinner. I had one of the best meals of my life, an eggplant parmigiana that was almost confit, and grilled squid legs for my main, and a split bottle of wine. So good. 

It was mom’s first time in Napoli and I had a good time trying to figure out a way to spend the evening that gave her a sense for most of the different parts of the city. She said she really liked it which was great! For me, it was and has been so great to hang out with her, having fresh eyes and new appreciation for the beauty all around. It was like a splash of cold water after traveling for a while, and just so so warm to be around someone who I know and love!

The next morning we caught a cap to the Napoli aeroport where we picked up our GM electric car and drove ton Uncle Tony’s! I’ve driven in Boston for years and New York a good bit in the last couple years and I’ll tell ya– they’ve got nothing on Italy. So insane. I’m not complaining, it was fun and gorgeous and I’m so glad we got the car, but the number of times that my heart completely stopped when a moped brushed by me or two lanes were treated like five, it probably took a few years off my life. 

When we set out, I called Tony to tell him that we were on the way and to ask for his address. He said no no, just come to Faicchio (his town), and just ask someone where he lives. We did just this, getting as close as my memory could serve and pulling over to ask the first person we met, “Where’s Tony Ciaburri?” Of course, the guy knew Tony and gave us perfect directions. It was so great to see him and Nonna Imma again, especially for my mom who didn’t get to see him last time. Tony had a heart attack a couple months ago and he’s still not back to 100% completely, so I drove around the countryside while he gave directions. We drove over to Amorosi, the nearby village that my great grandparents are from, stopped by an old family home, saw Fabio, a cousin of mine who had a massive glow up since we played ping-pong 17 years ago, and got a tour of Tony’s farm. Since last year he got two ostriches! WTF, awesome! We had the best lunch ever: A ball of mozzarella each (two for me), two platters of fresh sliced prosciutto (I asked Tony where they buy it, and he looked at me funny and said “What do you mean? We make”), and fresh pasta. So freaking good. 

After lunch Tony took us up to the beautiful house I stayed at last time I visited, toured us around a small portion of his olive orchards, and showed off a horse, his herd of pigs, and his giant lemon trees. Over the course of touring the orchards, he and I made a verbal contract that I’ll be coming back to help with the Olive harvest in October of 2025, once I’m done with school, in exchange for free housing and food. Best deal ever. 

It was a sad goodbye after too little time that evening, as we made our way to Caserta where we met with even more family. There we met Angelo and Felice, two first-cousins of my mom, their parents (my grandfather’s first cousins) Nikola and Assunta, both of their wives, Melania and Chiara respectively, and all their awesome kids, my cugini. We had an awesome meal of pizza and antipasti, catching up, and exchanging gifts. It is always just so surreal to come across the world and meet with people who are our family, not even that distant! So much family, all in one day. 

We stayed in a nice hotel in Caserta that night, generously booked by Chiara and Felice, and hit the road north from Roma in the morning. We stopped in a town called Cassino to re-charge the EV. We had a bit of hectic-ness charging it up, but figured it out and arrived at the airport in Rome to drop off the vehicle on time. It was a hugely massive relief to hand off the keys. We caught the train into Rome and checked into our AirBnB no problem, a super cute little tangle of rooms with a beautiful and private little patio. I went for a nice long walk around some of my favorite old haunts while mom took a nap and made a dinner reservation. 

Being back in Rome is so unbelievably fantastic. It almost completely feels like I never left at all, or that it’s just been a weirdly long weekend since I left last April. One of the challenging things about my recent lifestyle is that nothing I’m ever doing is familiar, it’s all new and foreign. Of course Rome is still a foreign city and my Italian has not gotten that much better, but it still feels like a place I know and have made a home in, which is really a lovely feeling to return to. It also made me excited to get to that feeling in Belgrade, starting in just a few weeks!

Dinner on Friday night was maybe the most unbelievably fantastic meal of my life. Sure the food was good, but halfway through the antipasti, a random person walks up to the table, I look up, and it’s COOPER! What the fuck!!!!! I had no idea that he was coming. I saw him and my heart completely exploded, my jaw dropped, and my brain totally short circuited. I couldn’t believe it. He flew halfway around the world to come and hang out with us, all as a total surprise. My mom was in on it of course, they’ve been planning the surprise for a month or two now. Even just writing about it I can’t believe that it really happened. Best surprise ever! 

Cooper was super tired from travel, so he turned in early and I went out to meet up with a couple friends from last Semester, Yana, Elena, and Nikki. It was so so fantastic to hear about how they’ve been, what’s going on with the volleyball team, and just immersed in the John Cabot society. Again, it felt like no time at all has passed (to me). On Saturday we spent most of the day walking around town, we saw Circo Massimo, the Colosseum, the forum, and walked around the center a bit, getting a great lunch. 

That night we had another guest appearance of none other than XAVIER AND MAGGIE! Xavier is visiting for his spring break and they had planned to come watch the marathon (RIP), so we just got to hang out instead. So freaking awesome. We had some prosecco from Tony’s vineyard and then had a great dinner at a place nearby. It was so great to catch up with them and hear about their trip so far.

After dinner, Cooper, Xavier, Maggie, and I got drinks at a cool spot near the Gianiculum, the panoramic view of the Roman skyline. That was a crazy moment of worlds colliding. Cooper was still feeling tired so he headed home after that drink. Then I took Xavier and Maggie to In Vino Veritas, the local watering hole that was the fewest amount of steps from my dorm last year. There we met Sezer, a friend of Maggie and Xavier’s from Pitt, as well as Elena and Yana and Yana’s friend studying in Rome for a year. That was a crazy worlds collide if I’ve ever seen one. We played a bunch of rounds of Jenga and a lot of tequila shots. After a good long while there, we walked towards a club in the center (line not worth it), and plan-b’d a nearby bar. It actually turned out to be a die hard Steelers bar (Xavier is a huge lifelong fan for casual readers btw). Completely by chance we went to a place where the owner has pictures with every steelers legend ever, as well as the keys to the city of Pittsburgh. Nuts!

The night was growing tired, so we decided to part ways after one of the most amazing and surreal nights of all time, for me at least. So awesome. 

Sunday morning’s headache was shocking bearable, but the three of us (Mom, Coop, and I) took a chill day anyways, walking through Porta Portese, the massive mile-long flea market that happens every Sunday, and getting a fleet of e-bikes to go up and down the Tiber. It was a perfect and lovely way to spend a day. In the evening we saw yet more family, including the third brother of Angelo and Felice– Antonio, and his wife, the amazing Marzia, as well as their kids Niki and Viola. I saw them a few times last year and we were able to get pretty close, and it was so fantastic to reunite with them. Antonio picked us up in Trastevere and drove us to their lovely home a little bit outside the center. There we caught up and had a fantastic classic (and classy) meal of proscuitto, speck, salami, olives, mozzarella, and simple pasta. So freaking awesome to see them and to catch up with them all. 

Last night we got to sleep early and packed. This morning I said a sad goodbye to mom who’s at the airport as I type (Monday late morning), and Coop’s walking around now, going to catch a train to the airport in a few hours. 

Genuinely some of the greatest days of my entire life.