It's dusk, the sun is setting, the light is soft, it's a warm Summer day and you're picking delicious little figs in a beautiful patch of land, tucked away amongst olive groves and vineyards.
This was my introduction to one of the sweetest moments along this journey. Let me take you back to where it all began.
During a visit to my accountant’s office, a beautiful lady who works there who has been the most wonderful cheerleader since day one was eager to introduce me to a man named Giuseppe because we had similar ideas, hopes and - our favourite word - dreams!
Giuseppe has worked and travelled all over the world, primarily in the hospitality industry with large hotel chains. As Giuseppe put it, ‘gira e gira’ (go around and around) and he never found a place more beautiful than his home town Grisolia and the surrounding region, adorned by the crystal-clear waters of the sea and the impressionable magnitude of the mountains.
As a fellow traveller, I can tell you amici, he’s not wrong! However, I’ll leave it to you to come and decide for yourself.
If you’re just tuning in, my name is Chiara and I love to share with you my travel stories that have led me to this mission to save Italian traditions and celebrate the locals that keep them. I want to open the door to the true essence of Italian culture and invite you to come inside to experience it for yourself.
Vera Italia - the platform I’ve created - is a cultural travel movement born in Northern Calabria, turning the key for travellers who want more than just a holiday, they want to feel connected to the place.
The people featured on this platform, I like to call Culture Creators because with each tradition or custom they do, they shape the Italian identity. I think they deserve to be celebrated and that their stories should be told.
As part of the platform, I’m so delighted to be able to share a glimpse into their realities and I would love to share our collection of their stories with you here: https://www.youtube.com/@VeraItaliaExperience/videos.
Now, let’s get back to Giuseppe who, if you’ve been following along, is our fourth Culture Creator entry! Giuseppe has a real passion to share this love for his region with you.
In fact, we came-up with an impressive range of experiences from making wine, olive oil and fresh pasta with his parents, to basking in the glow of the Calabrian sunset in their olive grove as you’re perched on a hay bale with a basket full of local goodies for a picnic among the olive and oak trees.
Giuseppe’s dream was to create something that would allow him to remain in the town where his family comes from. To create something that not only enabled him to work and enjoy this beautiful part of the world, but to share it with others.
To share it with travellers like you! Giuseppe’s dream came true just last year in the form of a little coffee shop, a meeting point which was once a simple piazza where he now welcomes friends, locals, travellers and visitors alike for an espresso, a gelato, a spritz and together with Vera Italia, some truly beautiful experiences that will make you feel part of the family.
During a warm Summer afternoon as the sun was setting and I was watching the filming unfold of the picnic experience for Giuseppe’s video, I had a moment. This was the third video we were recording for the website and although I knew I still had a long way to go.
This was one of the sweetest moments along the journey. In the simplicity of this beautiful setting, seeing the reality of the experiences we had been creating take form, the joy in the eyes of who were sharing these experiences - it was in this moment where I could truly see this vision, this little dream of mine was coming to life.
The reality is, like Giuseppe, many people make the decision to go abroad because in small towns like Grisolia, San Nicola Arcella, Santa Maria del Cedro, there are few prospects for ‘stable’ jobs, work opportunities and a sustainable income all year round.
Italy is beautiful. It’s incredible! However, for the locals that live in these smaller towns, the reality is that they affront each day with the hopes of creating a more prosperous future.
This is why I am so passionate to share their stories, to connect them with you, to show you that these people are so incredibly humble, so inspirational and so true to their roots.
It is my wish that each and every one of you reading this blog will have the chance to meet them for yourself. In doing so, my innate desire is that together we as visitors, as curious travellers, are able to make a difference to these smaller communities off the beaten path who deserve to keep shining bright and sharing their magic, their essence of the true Italy.
