venerdì 20 agosto 2010

Italian Trip Summer 2010

I was looking at my blogging statistics the other day. In one year in Paris, I've written around 70 posts. When I lived in Italy, I wrote 150. As I've said before, Italy is just more bloggable.

Italy is a land of extremes. Extreme beauty and extreme ugliness. Extreme kindness and extreme rudeness. Danger and safety. People who welcome you into their homes with open arms and treat you like royalty and people who would screw you over for your last centime. That's what makes it so interesting to write about, but it also sometimes makes it hard. Every time I criticise something about Italy, I think of all the lovely people that have made me feel so welcome there and I feel guilty. It feels like being given private access to somebody's home and then telling the world about their domestic difficulties. And yet it's impossible to spend time in Italy and not feel strong reactions of all kinds. So before I start my next series of posts about my Italian experiences, I would just like to say to any Italian who may be reading this, and also to the world, that everything I say about Italy comes from a profound interest in and love for the country that has grown so much over the past few years as a result of all the wonderful people who have welcomed me into their Italian lives and given me glimpses of what lies underneath the sunny, sparkly exterior. Thank you for that and please be assured that nothing I write here is intended to cause offence or to judge, but only to document my personal journey into a culture that fascinates, confuses and entrances but is never, ever boring.



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