Always Going Away

Stick Your Tongue Out

So, the heat wave is not stopping and I’m gonna have to post another picture of the snow to chill myself out.

This is a nice, dirty drift of snow from Stockholm.

Williamsburg after the storm

(A refreshing image from this suffocating hot weather. I don’t know where you are, but here, in Italy, we definitely need it.)

Last winter, between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, New York was hit by a tremendous snowstorm. I was there, in Williamsburg, trapped for a few days in a friend’s apartment.

No, in Europe where are really not used to things like that.

Cambodian Gecko

Another beautiful animal from the southeast Asia rain-forest.

Actually this fella was living under the roof just outside my hotel room in Siem Reap, Cambodia and I saw him every night for all the time I stayed there.

I love animals and I was a little sad noticing how the lamps just outside my room were the only ones of the hotel without those small yellow geckos.

The same night, however, when I saw the large (about 20 cm) red-spotted one I was amazed and looking for him on the Internet I found out why there were no other geckos around.

Well, it seems they feed on other geckos… and one night I even got to see him eating (eww…).

Urbino

This is the Ducal Palace of Urbino, an absolutely astonishing place - and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The little city is a must-see if you are visiting central Italy.

I, personally, love it.

Otranto

Another wonderful spot of Puglia.

When you’ll be tired of all the beaches you can always visit a beautiful city such as Otranto.

Porto Badisco

They say Aeneas, the legendary progenitor of Rome kings, landed firstly in Italy at this narrow long bay on his way from the burning Troy in search for a new home.

Now Puglia, and especially Salento, is one the most amazing places of Italy where to spend your summertime.

Stunning sea and beaches, wonderful cities and villages and plenty of gigs all summer long.

Maybe, lately, some places are becoming too crowded, especially in august, but, if you don’t like it, you will always be able to find a quiet, peaceful spot to rest just few kilometres away from the packed beaches.

(And I’ll show you soon how quiet these villages can be).

Tropea

This is Calabria, the instep of Italy’s boot and one of its most beautiful and unknown region.

Sadly the ‘ndrangheta (local powerful mafia) is keeping away most of the tourists.

It’s not that it is really dangerous to walk through it for the common tourist (even if in that same beach a week after this photo was taken a man was shot dead by a mafia professional killer), it’s more that, due to the ‘ndrangheta’s reign of terror, the land is missing every kind of facilities and promotion and it is mentioned in the news just when some local politician or judge is murdered by the mafia, creating around it a very bad reputation.

Tropea is one of few places in this land to be quite touristic. The beach seems to be quite crowded but it’s nothing compared to the near beaches of Puglia. (Plus this picture was taken in mid-August that is supposed to be the most crowded period for Italy’s tourism).

Most of the people you see are locals or Calabrian emigrants back to their land to visit for the summertime. (Calabrians during the last century have emigrated away to northern Italy and to the rest of the world, so when you walk through a crowd you can even hear many accents and many languages, but very few of them are real tourists).

(If you’re asking, I don’t have any Calabrian origin, but I was there with and thanks to a friend whose parents were born and raised there before emigrating to northern Italy - and that’s another common way to visit the region.)

Bagno Vignoni

Another wonderful Italian village.

Think about literally ten houses, four restaurants, three hotels and a couple of bars built around this stunning square/basin filled with thermal water.

And all of that on top of a hill with a wonderful view and with thermal ponds at its foot.

This is Tuscany, this is Italy.