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WHY I STILL LOVE ITALY (never mind politics)

Italian signs, red fly curtains and a washing line in front of the local coffee bar in Petricci


No news from the boot. We're still in the midst of an economic crisis and the political tohubohu is as reckless as ever. Thank god not only the bad things stay the same. The good stuff doesn't change either. Like Italian coffee. Every time I stop in one of the bars of a Tuscan off-the-beaten-path town, I know that even though pensions are higher in Sweden, child-care better in France and public toilets cleaner in Switzerland - I couldn't live anywhere else. Because...

  • a good old Italian sign is just so endlessly more attractive than all the neon in the world
  • red fly curtains make me smile
  • the winter sun never fails to put me in a good mood (and she just isn't around too much further up north)
  • washinglines (so simple and so ecological) will always remain one of my must have items
  • life at the bar is yes, about good coffee, but above all about having a common ground and meeting place for young and old alike
  • I like to ditch the crowd. And you can in Southern Tuscany!

If anything, I could probably do without the satellite dish. But living with an Italian, we obviously have one too. 

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