Where in the world.....

Where in the world are we?

In April it will be my 4 year anniversary of living (mostly) in Italy. Before that I lived the majority of my life in Melbourne and a few years in London. I have lived in Portugal for 3 months and moved around Italy spending summers in Rome, Taormina and Sorrento. The bel ragazzo and I have seen many countries, worked in a few and have finally decided where we are going to live (or try to live anyway.)

We have moved to a beautiful, small town where the air is clean, the pace of life more relaxed, where there are next to no tourists. What? I hear you say. 'Next to no tourists?' As you know we work in the tourist industry so what are we doing in a non-touristy town?

Well....we have quit our jobs for a start! Good bye stupid tourists...there will be no more 'stupid tourist comments of the day!' The next time I go away I want to be the tourist!

We have moved to a town where no one speaks English, except the odd person who lived in Canada or America many years ago. No more going to an Italian restaurant and seeing pizza with ham and pineapple on the menu, no more!

After travelling for so many years it is time for us to settle in one place. We are sick and tired of living out of a suitcase and we have so many plans for the future that we are beginning to put those plans into action.

So where are we?

Come on, you can all guess!



We are in Malito, in Calabria, in bel ragazzo's lovely little hilltop town of 800 odd people. We have been back for three weeks and the gods are definitely on my side. I have already found a job, this week we are moving into our own apartment and other then that I have no complaints - well not really. Since I am moving into a small Calabrese village, there are certainly going to be issues, times when my patience is tested and where I feel I am going mad. I've only been here 3 weeks and have had some issues with water connection and the like...but hey - we're here, we're willing to give it a try and see how it goes.

So stay tuned for tales of my new life in a small, hilltop, Calabrese town living with my bel fidanzato (we are engaged now, so maybe I should change his name???)

Goodbye Australia

Time is ticking - bel ragazzo and I are only in Australia for a few more days before flying back to Italy. This will be my last post for a while, what with farewells, packing, more farewells, flying for a few days then eventually arriving back in a somewhat internetless Malito.

So you'll have to wait to find out where in the world we are going!

Here are some pictures of what we have been doing in Australia - allora -see you later for now, and I'll be back before you know it.


yes - this is my twin and I.


Our beautiful little nephew


St Kilda beach


The most beautiful Christmas baby!



A sort of hot Christmas day


The beach in Rosebud







oh and what's this???..... stay tuned!

The underground town

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! It has once again been a while since my last post as the bel ragazzo and I only just came back from a weeks holiday by the beachside. So much has happened since I last wrote!! Let's just say the year ended very well...more then well - it was the best ending I've had to any year thus far. More information about that to come.... plus also I shall be telling you where in the world the bel ragazzo and I are going very soon as we only have 11 more days left in Australia!

Here are some catch up photos of what we have been doing since I last wrote. We left off in the Australian outback, and we are still in the Australian outback as we stay over night in the opal mining town of Coober Pedy.





A fantastic place, unlike anything else I have ever seen. The majority of the population live underground since it gets so hot in the summer time. We slept in an underground bunkhouse which was so exciting!








We had a tour of an underground house (not a real house, but an example of what a real house looks like.) The temperature is always the same inside these houses, so regardless of the time of year, you only need to sleep with a sheet on. Now is that cost cutting on bills or what!







We had a tour through the opal mines and even tried our hands at digging!

Leanne in the outback

It has been some time since I last posted! All is well and the bel ragazzo and I are still in Australia. We have just come back from an outback adventure into the hot centre of Australia! I know that December with its scorching summer is not the best time to explore the central deserts of Australia...but beggars can't be choosers as they say.



We left Melbourne and caught an early morning 2 1/2 hour flight to Alice Springs which is some 2200 kilometres from Melbourne.



This was my first trip into central Australia and we were very excited! The colours of the desert are amazing. The sand is such a deep, dark red - we've never seen anything like it.



We took a very, very long day trip from Alice Springs to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas.) Uluru is some 450 kms from Alice Springs and we started the day trip at 5:45am and did not get back until 1:30am! It was worth it though.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta - which are both rock formations and sacred Aboriginal sites - are in the world heritage national park. The name Kata Tjuta is aboriginal and means 'many heads.' Have a look at the photos and you'll see why.









The Olgas are about 30km from Uluru and is made up of 36 rounded domes with the tallest (Mt. Olga) being 200m higher than Uluru (that's 546m).

When people think of Australia, they surely think of the big, massive rock smack bang in the centre of the desert. It is an odd site after travelling on the flat, straight roads for hours and then suddenly this giant rock looms up in front of you.
The rock is actually a sandstone formation and stands 348 m (1,142 ft) high (863 m/2,831 ft above sea level) with most of its bulk below the ground, and measures 9.4 km (5.8 mi) in circumference.





These are some ancient Aboriginal paintings that are on Uluru.







We ended this long day by sipping a glass of champagne as we watched the sunset at Uluru before starting the long drive back to Alice Springs. We did snooze for most of the drive, and only awoke when the bus hit a kangaroo! When the sun sets, the kangaroos come out and when you are in a big bus, speeding along a deserted highway then it is inevitable that you will see kangaroos...and very probable that you will hit one.

An interview with me on ItalyMONDO!

Before leaving Sorrento, I was lucky enough to re-meet Laura from the blog Ciao Amalfi and an interesting guy called Peter Farina. Peter is an American who spends half his life in Italy and half in America. He runs a company called ItalyMONDO which can help you uncover your family’s unique story, discover relatives still living in Italy, complete the circle with Dual Italian Citizenship, or take the vacation of a lifetime – returning home with vivid memories of an unforgettable journey into your past.

ItalyMONDO has a blog section too, and I was lucky enough to be interviewed for their first Saturday Spotlight! Go over and check it out and see what else Peter has to say! It was such a pleasure to have a leisurely lunch with them, and I am sure bel ragazzo and I will cross their paths when our Australian holiday is over and we return to the bel paese.

Christ stopped at Eboli...but we didn't!

Have you read "Christ stopped at Eboli" by Carlo Levi? If you haven't I would highly recommend it. This book is an amazing biography of Levi - a northern Italian doctor, painter and writer who was forced to live in political exile in a small town in Lucania, which is now called Basilicata. He was sent there for his openly anti-fascist views and his biography tells of his experience living within this malaria ridden district and how in such a poor, desolate town he met some of the most amazingly strong and kind people.

Levi writes in his novel that it seems that Christ really did stop at Eboli (which is a town in the province of Salerno) because it was such a different Italy from the Italy he came from. Back in the day wealthy Italians did not travel much further south then Rome and most certainly very few would have had reason to enter the region of Basilicata. It was the land that time forgot. With limited access to health care, education - even clean running water, Levi was shocked and humbled by his experience here.

One town which is mentioned in his novel is the now rather famous Matera. Matera's fame on the tourist map has been steadily building since Mel Gibson's film, "The Passions of the Christ" which I have yet to see. This town is one of the most unique places you will ever see and rightly so it is now a UNESCO site.



When Levi visited Matera, the poorest of the towns people used to live in the sassi which are cave dwellings dating back to the prehistoric settlement. The sassi houses are literally dug into the rock and are not houses as such, but large (and not so large) caves which used to see both humans and animals living together in more often then not windowless holes. You can imagine the conditions which Levi would have seen! The town which is basically built entirely of rock was a cess pit of disease and in the 1950s (when the sassi were full of about 16,000 poverty stricken inhabitants) the Italian government had to forcefully relocate most of the population to areas of the developing modern city.



Bel ragazzo and I went to Matera in October and it was an overwhelming site. I had always wanted to visit Matera and was so excited that we finally had a chance to go. We went for work. (Well bel ragazzo did and I just tagged along.) We had to inspect a new 5 star de luxe "hotel" which is made up of some of the oldest sassi.





If you have never been to Matera then I would say you definately have to put it on your list of places to go. Look at more of our pictures below and see for yourself!









If you don't want to see a photo of bel ragazzo giving me a bacio then close your eyes now!!

Australia vs Italy: Driving

Apparently this is the hottest, continuous weather for the month of November - which is still spring time here in Melbourne, Australia. We have had a taste of summer, with temperatures already in the low - mid 30s. It was 35 degrees two days ago, today is a cooler 29 degrees and it's back up to 35 degrees tomorrow, so we are off to the the beach! My grandparents have a holiday house by the sea where we always go, so we are packing up baby and all and having a break for two nights!

I must say that it is very nice to be back in such an orderly country - especially after being based in Sorrento which (since it is the province of Naples) is one of the most hectic and crazy parts of Italy. So ladies and gents, that brings us to the next episode of Australia vs Italy! - Driving!

I have already been driving back here in Melbourne and must say that it is such an easy, calming, pleasure. The roads are so wide, so straight and so empty! I keep getting distracted by all the people waving to say "thanks" when they drive.



I must amidst to being a waver. I like to show gratitude and for others to show me such respect when I let them push in front of me with their cars. When I first drove in Sorrento (with bel ragazzo in the car as my driving /make sure she does not kill someone instructor) he used to look at me and get impatient as I used to waste (precious) time waving.

Let me give you an example, as you may be thinking bel ragazzo sounds a bit nasty...but no - I soon learnt there is not point in waving thanks OR expecting thanks in the province of Naples. One day we were driving along the normally busy streets of Sorrento. The road has one lane going in each direction, and no parking signs line the busy street, but of course the traffic warden turns a blind eye as his mother double parks her old cinque cento on the curb out front of the supermarket. His brother-in-law has just bought a new car, so as he dashes to the bar for a (not so quick) coffee he badly parks the new car on the busy street. A young boy pulls up on a dangerous corner and the traffic warden is about to send him away when he realises that the boy is his wifes brothers cousins uncles godson - so of course he can park in that highly illegal and dangerous place! Oh - that woman is pretty with her short skirt - what's that? Just off to the post office for a minute. Sure, she can park there too. And the man who will only be a minute in the bank, and the child who looks to young to be driving a car anyway...and the.....

So you can imagine the scene as I am trying to navigate the car down the packed, busy street, avoiding hitting a scooter as they come whizzing from behind on my left and right. You need to look everywhere when you drive in Italy - especially in this part of Italy. So anyways...I was talking about waving. Yes, waving. In those early days I was nice Leanne. I remember a man stopped his car so I could turn, so being the nice Leanne that I am I waved. I however at this stage did not have the ability to wave and drive at the same time (I am not stupid but in Australia we drive on the other side of the road.) So here I am waving, and smiling thinking how nice this man is when bel ragazzo hisses - Vai, Vai!!! Go, Go!!! - are you crazy! He's letting you go so why are you stopping! Just turn. People were starting to honk behind me and all flustered I turn the corner.

At the bottom of the street I decide to return the favour as an old, hunched, can barely see over the steering wheel woman is trying in vain to turn onto the busy street. I signal for her to go, and give her a big smile. I am nice don't forget. Or I should say was nice. The old thing takes her time turning in front of me without as much as a nod of the head! I was angered...furious....stupid, old, ungrateful thing!


From that day on I changed. Nice, good, kind Leanne was left behind. My bel ragazzo driving instructor was shocked at my sudden change. You have become Italian he commented. Good. It is the only way to drive (or did he mean survive) here. From that point on we had a rule - no one and we meant NO ONE was going to get in front of us. No more letting people cut in front. Even if they drive straight at you...do not let them in. Pedestrian crossing...they are nothing but stripes on the road. No time to let the people cross either. Porca %$&*&^ Pezzo di &^%$# C%**& B&^%$#@& get out of my way!!!!!

So, now I am in Melbourne and the other day was happily waving to everyone who let me pass, and who was thanking me for letting them in. At one stage I was in a narrow street and there was an on coming car. We stopped for a good 10 seconds, busy waving back and forth as we were both too polite to go through first. Ahhh....that's what I call driving.