Italy- My Happy Place!
I always wanted to travel. Perhaps I felt crowded with the 9 other people who lived with me, including, 2 parents, 7 siblings, 2 dogs, 1 horse, 1 goat, 30 rabbits, and a guinea pig named Winifred.
No, I wasn’t raised on a farm, I am originally from Los Angeles near the beach.
When I was 10, my dad left a great career in concrete to get out of the ‘rat race’. So we packed up and moved to Oregon.
My dad is a WWII Veteran and a war Hero. My mom, may she Rest In Peace, an artist, writer and lover of life. They were madly in love.
I suppose the writer in mum and the adventurer and survivor in dad is partly responsible for where I am today.
It started with Rome during my tumultuous second marriage in 1999. My generous brother invited me to Croatia for a Medjugorje Retreat and we had an 8 hour layover in Rome to see as much as possible.
It began with Mass with the Pope; riveting and inspiring. Then I hurried through the Vatican, snapshot here, snapshot there, nice ceiling, awesome naked man sculpture, cool paintings.
What I saw then, wasn’t to be appreciated until now.
Then off to Croatia which was more magical than I had expected. I allowed myself to let go and experience. I prayed with the pilgrims, walked through the villages and came home with an un wavering Faith that would carry me through the next chapter of my life.
In 2001, my friend Kim, a stockbroker colleague and aerobic instructor colleague (two other careers I had) was to go to Geneva Switzerland for work and asked if I wanted to meet in Italy first. My second marriage had ended after a year, so I said yes!
We were to meet in Venice. I took a plane, to a train, to a boat, to a gondola, to the the floating city in Italy while noticing the boat drivers, bus drivers, train drivers and gondola drivers were all HOT ITALIAN STUDS, just like in the movies and I was pleased.
I wandered down narrow streets, over tiny bridges, in and out of several buildings when I finally arrived at our Hotel. Velvet burgundy curtains, decorated ceilings, tall bed posts and walls covered with early Venetian art.
I unpacked, and dashed outside to get a bottle of wine. As I wandered the cobblestone streets I followed the ringing bells. There I was, in St. Marks Square - Piazza San Marco. What do you do when in St. Marks Square? You run through the pigeons, then go to Harry’s Bar for a world famous Bellini for starters.
After few days in Venice visiting art museums and soaking in the Italian culture we were off to Florence, Sienna and Assisi to see the shrine of St. Francis and the dove nest. Doves that have been nesting in the same place for over 600 years along with the first thornless rose bush.
We also hired a taxi to take us up to Cascia. A small village in the mountains where there was the tomb of an incorruptible Saint, Saint Rita. There are 200 of these incorruptible Saints bodies’ that miraculously barely decompose after hundreds of years.. so interesting!
Time for Geneva. We woke up late, packed and rushed out without coffee barely making the train. Kim is one of those friends that all you do is laugh together. So here we are crammed in a train bum to bum. People staring into space.
All of a sudden I started laughing quietly, I can’t remember why but then Kim started laughing. The tone of my laugh changed to Goofy from Walt Disney ( another place I worked, next blog).
Kim started laughing at my laughing, and it became louder. In less than a minute, the whole train compartment was laughing at 6 am. It was Priceless.
We arrived in Geneva and I helped her get settled in her apartment. After a few days I was getting restless. I wanted to go back to Italy and finish my vacation there instead of Geneva. So I went to a travel agent who suggested Rapallo, a quaint harbor village just south of Portofino. I love harbor villages!
I said goodbye to Kim, hopped on a train and in a few hours arrived in Rapallo.
Unbeknownst to me, Rapallo would be the place I would continue to visit and live one day. I felt at home.
So there I was headed towards Hotel Stella which is a convenient few blocks from the train station. It was by the sea and Portofino was only a two hour hike along a beautiful mountainous coastline or 10 minute boat ride.
It was there I met Stefano and Alexandra, owners of Hotel Stella B&B by the sea and very good friends to this day. The rooms are spotless and your stay includes a yummy breakfast.
Again, time to go back to America. By the way, I did notice the Italians are always trying to park big things in small places, perhaps that’s why they call it LA Dolce Vita! The Good Life, it sounded like a place I needed to be for sure.
A few years later in 2005, I returned with a fiancé. We went on hikes to Cinque Terre south of Rapallo and to Portofino several times, but I felt lonely and needless to say, we didn’t marry.
Fast forward to 2009, I was engaged again to a restaurant and bar owner in Illinois. I found him kissing another woman in his walk-in cooler on Christmas Eve, which is how I found myself back to Italy again. I was so upset I booked two airline tickets. Part of me wanted to escape to a tropical island so I bought a ticket to Hawaii. The other part of me wanted to be with family so I bought a ticket to Hermosa Beach. I ended up in Hermosa Beach and saved the Hawaii ticket. Later I learned I could exchange it to an Italy ticket. So I went, alone.
Although I love Italy, it wasn’t easy going at that particular time. I was transitioning into another career that I would eventually write a book about. Therefore, during those intern years, my budget was limited. I only had $700 to last me for two weeks for food and fun. Since I loved to do simple things it was easy.
I flew into Milan, took a train to Rapallo, and walked once again a few blocks to Hotel Stella.
It was this trip I found Our Lady of Montallegro on the mountain above the village.
It was this trip that I ventured to Tuscany and found distant cousins, my grandparents are from Pistoia, Italy which is the Tuscany region.
We went to Cristina’s B & B, La Dimora De Coloni.
A 15th Century farmhouse she was renovating into a 14 bedroom Villa. It also was to be the future home of the Inner Corset and Pelvic Floor Retreats.
It was there and then, that Cristina, Daniela, Nives and I started planning.
My cousins were so curious about what I was learning. I told them in broken English/Italian that after 35 years as a fitness and Pilates expert I was selected to study with an OBGYN and Scientist to learn a revolutionary science-based system for women. It helps urine leakage and back pain with side effects of better sex and a smaller waist. No pills, Pads, Surgery, Kegels or Crunches. My cousins wanted to learn more. We went back to Nives house and walked around talking about the pelvic floor, il pavimento pelvico, while Daniela translated.
Cousin Checco also showed up at Nives’ and Filippo’s that day and even has his own TV cooking show, what fun we had!
Before I left, I showed Filippo an exercise to help his tennis and Nives and Daniela a sample of the Inner Corset and Pelvic Floor program out on the front lawn.
Time to return to America.
I didn’t go back until five years later with my third and current marito (husband). We stayed at beautiful Hotel Stella and played tennis in Tuscany with Filippo.
But something was missing, it wasn’t as enjoyable as going alone. Can you tell I have relationship challenges? I will save those details for my “MENmoirs”. 😂
The good thing about going to Italy a lot is you learn a lot. For instance, how to take a plane to a train to a boat to a gondola without speaking Italian. How to sufficiently ALMOST get lost, but never did. Finding an interim hair salon where five people work on your hair and half the price of an American salon, and knowing what and how to order at a restaurant without offending the waiter.
Today, my dream thrives no matter what bumps I meet along the way.
I DID write the book on the Internal Corset and Pelvic floor for the ladies called “ 7 Secrets to a Sexy Silhouette”.
I DID have the book translated to Italian “7 Segreti per una Silhouette Sexy”
I WILL be living in Rapallo part-time beginning September, God Willing.
I WILL be taking small groups of women on an Italy tour, to have fun and learn about their Inner Corse
We will fly into Genoa, start at Rapallo by the sea - then on to Cristina’s B&B in Tuscany.
