City Love Companions

One of my Italian friends told me “Naples has a bad reputation”. But how can a city with the best pizza in the world have a bad reputation? “Pizza is good even when it’s bad”. It’s a universal truth that grew well beyond its meme origins. Even more so in 2020, which has been a year of discovery. I bet you discovered that you suddenly want to learn how to make pizza and sourdough bread. You watched all the tutorials on YouTube, went through countless recipes. Months later, your household is covered with flour and pieces of pizza dough. Surely, you’ve perfected your technique and you’re ready to invite test subjects over. It’s pizza party time. Everything is ready; the dough has been fermenting for almost a week. San Marzano tomatoes are in your food processor. You invested...

Turin (Torino) is all tailored suits, aristocracy and... chocolate. They say it’s a blend of new and old, but I don’t see any new, it’s old and older. And it’s beautiful: it’s one of those cities that are better off without all the „new”. It’s a very unique Italian city. The mountains to the north combined with the Baroque architecture give off a special aura. They say there are so many arcs around the city because the king didn’t like rain. Turin was the first capital of Italy after the unification. That role only lasted for four years from 1861 to 1865 but it’s still known as „the cradle of Italian liberty”. There is one place that will give you a general idea of what this place is all about. The Basilica of Superga is located on a hill on the eastern edge of Turi...

I got a good glimpse of Florence in the sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, the one where he eats a guys’ brain and stabs another guy in an artery and leaves him to bleed out on a crowded street. The movie wasn’t as good as the first one, but it showed where a sophisticated psychopath like Hannibal Lecter would live if he ever escaped containment. Florence smells of almond soaps, perfume you can’t buy anywhere else in the world, and pizza. And then there is that characteristic smell of old stuff. You know, that museum smell of formalin and cold, if cold was a smell. Florence, or Firenze as the Italians say, is located in a sort of a focal point between Rome, Venice, and Milan. Compared to the other three cities it has a more small community, village feel to it. It’s strange conside...

My childhood friend and his fiancée visited Milan a few months ago and they returned absolutely mesmerized by this classy part of Italy. I asked them both what was so great about it, she mentioned fashion and wine, while he couldn’t shut up about football. But even if you are not a huge fan of either of those Milano will certainly seduce you. Some people compare Milan to one of the models that constantly roam this city in search of a career, awesome on the outside but a bit shallow on the inside; ”no soul” as they say. In my opinion, it’s only because people compare it to Rome and let’s be real: everything pales in comparison with the Eternal City. Does it mean Milan or Milano as the Italians call it is not worth visiting? Not in the slightest, this city is unique in its own reg...

Of all the amazing cities I’ve seen in my life, Rome is the one I keep coming back to. This effortless ancient monumentality merged with modern accents makes me feel right at home. You don’t need to visit museums or galleries: just walk around and take everything in. I spent almost a week in Rome and every single day started the same, I woke up early, took a shower and went out. My hotel was close to the Colosseum so I literally stepped out, had a coffee and bought something to snack on. I spent a few hours chilling around Forum Romanum: reading a book, listening to music, while it was still too early for tourist groups. Then I picked a direction and started walking. I also almost died a couple of times, underneath the seemingly small wheels of colourful Vespa’s. What a nightmare, Ro...