EDP Columns
Introduction
Italy. A country that conjures up images of sunshine in Tuscany, romance in Venice and eating succulent pizza’s in Naples. But there’s more to life in Italy than hot summer nights and good food, as I discovered a year ago, when I moved to a Trani, a town north of Bari in Puglia. Trani’s streets are cobbled, the historical centre is much older than I ever imagined possible, and the stunning 11th century cathedral has the unique setting of overlooking the sea.
How does a 31 year old female from Norwich come to live in an undiscovered part of Italy? It was all due to an unexpected and life changing meeting on holiday two years ago with an Italian man with a name to match his personality – Felice (pronounced Fel-ee-chay) meaning happy. The problem was that I didn’t speak much Italian and he spoke even less English. With the communication barrier and obvious cultural differences, it was never going to be easy! But somehow, with a little help from a friend that spoke some English, sign language, and plenty of patience, a friendship soon turned into romance.
After exchanging contact details and a year and a half travelling between the UK and Italy, it became evident that a decision would have to be made about where our relationship was heading. I was learning Italian at evening class and had always loved Italy so I made the choice to take a giant leap into the unknown and moved to Italy to see if things could develop.
The romance of it all was combined with feelings of fear. Had I really left everything behind in Norwich, for a man!? But a year on and things have slowly fallen into place. I’ve become enchanted with Italy and its culture, climate, food and people. However, with all things captivating, there is always something that brings you back down to earth. Life in Italy can be strange and frustrating and hasn’t come without its obstacles - learning the language has naturally been the biggest.
Although Italian is romantic and passionate, it’s also completely bewildering. There’s learning about when to use ‘Tu’, the informal version of ‘you’ for people you know, and when to use ‘Lei’, the formal version used for addressing people you don’t know, those older than you and professionals such as doctors and lawyers. I quickly signed up for free Italian lessons at the local school for ‘stranieri’ - foreigners and was strangely mistaken for an Albanian by the school Principal!
Although not quite fluent just yet, I’m pretty close although need a little more practice with those tricky verb tenses. However, the occasional mistake is there to be made, like the time I went to the butchers and asked for 20g of minced meat rather than 200g! It would be a little easier if there wasn’t the local dialect, Tranese to contend with. Determined not to speak dialect myself, I am beginning to understand it and have even been told that I speak Italian with a Tranese accent. Perhaps life isn’t so different to Norfolk after all!