Welcome back lovers, we're at the start of a new week and I'm so excited to be sharing today's love story with you. This is a testament to the digital age, the age of Instagram in particular because Chiara and I came to know each other through Instagram and coincidentally, it's the same way she met an Italian boy named Andrea while she was studying "abroad" in Siena with Erasmus. Why did I just say "abroad" with quotations? Well in case you didn't notice, Chiara is an Italian name and Chiara is in fact, ITALIAN, her parents are both Italian but she was born and raised in Germany. Andrea is a born and raised Tuscan (my favorite!). After connecting on Instagram, the two had one of those magical Italian summers. She didn't actually tell me this but I can imagine it because Tuscany at the height of summer is pure magic - it's sunsets over terracotta roofs, that golden light that only exists in Siena and the Val d'Orcia that pours into the piazza and drips into the narrow backstreets, everything is gilded and everyone is drunk on Rosso di Montepluciano and you can't escape the romance, it's just the best moments of life, period. I think I could fall in love with a rock if you just give me a July evening in Tuscany, a sunset, and a bottle of Brunello. Let's get on with it and find out the love story behind this pair of dark-haired stunners. 

​Where are you from and where is your significant other from? 
I’m Italian, but I was born in Stuttgart, Germany (I’m living in Germany). Andrea is from Piombino, Tuscany. He studied law in Pisa and moved back to Piombino.

Where and when did you meet your significant other? 
He wrote me on Instagram in in the middle of July. He came to visit me in Siena on the 28th of July (I lived in Siena for one year, studying abroad/Erasmus).

Curator's Note:  Hip-hip-hooray, three cheers for Instagram and its underlying matchmaking abilities!

Who made the first move? 
He did. We wrote for a few weeks and he wanted to meet me immediately, but I had exams in July., so he had to wait to meet me personally! He was always very interested and wanted to call me and talk.

Curator's Note:  ...but of course he did, otherwise he wouldn't be Italian right? 

Where did you think he was originally from?
He first didn’t understand why I’m Italian  although I was born in Germany. But since my parents are both Italian I got the Italian nationality/passport and never took the German one. Also it was confusing for him that I studied "abroad“  in my home country, haha. But I missed Italy and always wanted to live in Italy. Also studying art history in Italy became even more important for me, because I fell in love with Italian Art.

Curator's Note:  This made me giggle. I just find in general that Italians seem to struggle with the concept of people being born in countries that don't align with their actual ethnicity. I've had to explain so many times and go back so many generations in my family to explain how I was born in Canada and not an Asian country! However, how lucky you are to be able to have to many cultures and languages to call "home". 

What was your first impression of him?
I really liked the sound of his voice and how he looked at me, no one ever looked at me like he did. I was really impressed by the feeling he was giving me, it felt like we knew each other already.

Curator's Note:  I hear this one time and time again which really leads me to want to do some kind of research as to why and how Italian boys are so good at LOOKING AT THINGS. Do ya'll think it's because they've grown up being taught to appreciate beautiful things and are constantly surrounded by beauty so they're just experts at staring? Someone please do a thesis on this. 

Dish on the first kiss!
Well our first kiss was an accident. He came to Siena by train and I was picking him up at the train station. I saw him and said "ciao" and we kissed each others' cheeks, just the traditional Italian Cheek Kissing. Normally you lean first to he left and then to the right, but I was kind of excited and confused left and right! That’s when our accidental kiss happened. He just smiled  and said that he liked this kind of greeting and kissed me again.

Curator's Note:  Oh goodness, I ADORED THIS. I feel like I can picture exactly how this happened. I love how the Italian cheek kiss gets you up close and personal with everyone and almost lends itself to happy mistakes such as this one! 
​

So today is January 21st, the so-called "saddest day of the year", otherwise referred to as Blue Monday. But, ladies and gentleman, you've come to the right place at the right time because it's Love Story Lunedì and I've got something rather unique in store for you. This story I'm about to share was not submitted to me, but rather, it is the real-life love story of author Malena de Blasi. The 66 year old American writer and chef was born in New York and was living in Saint Louis when a routine trip to Venice would change her life forever. On November 6th, 1993, she would find herself sitting with friends at a local bar, sipping Amarone when a stranger called asking to speak to her. The stranger ends up being a Venetian named Fernando who had noticed Malena not only on this trip, but on a past occasion that she was in Venice nearly a year ago. She speaks mainly culinary Italian, he speaks even less English but yet eighteen days after their fated meeting, Fernando arrives in Saint Louis, USA. The two are now married and living in Orvieto, Italy.  She writes about their meeting and her eventual move to Venice and their wedding in one of my all-time favorite books about Italy: A Thousand Days in Venice. The photos I've included are of my actual book, it's been read probably a thousand times and every other page is dog-earred. This book is particularly close to my heart as it in many ways "accompanied" me on my own journey in preparing to move to Italy, I even gave it to my husband to read. As all of you probably know, I'm a sucker for a love story and this is without a doubt, the ultimate grown-up love story. Read on lovers. 

NB: I did not interview Malena for this feature, the answers come from what you, as a reader, would be able to divulge from her book. I thought it would be a fun twist on the prompt for this month's Dolce Vita Bloggers linkup which was "your favorite Italian book or book about Italy". For more information about the linkup, click the LINKUP option in the Top Menu. To add your own link, scroll down to the bottom and click the blue button and follow the instructions. 

​Where are you from and where is your significant other from? 
I am from Saint Louis, Missouri and Fernando is from Venice, Italy. 

Where and when did you meet your significant other? 
We met in November 1993 in Venice. He called me multiple times at a Vino Vino, despite always being there in person, he could never work up the nerve to approach me face-to-face. Instead, he would leave the restaurant and call and ask to talk to me. He would ask me in very studied English something along the lines of " Is it possible for you to meet me tomorrow, alone?". I would always respond no but on my last morning in Venice, I finally decide to meet him and it was magic. I found out that he had seen me in Venice last December in Piazza San Marco when he described to perfection my long white winter coat. 

Who made the first move? 
Fernando did of course, with all the persistence of a typical Italian! He absolutely wouldn't take no for an answer and luckily that was the case otherwise we wouldn't be where we are today. 

Where did you think he was originally from?
I knew he was Italian due to his extremely formal and almost school-like English he used on the phone with me. 

What was your first impression of him?
That he looked like Peter Sellers! I really noticed the blue of his eyes and how he is all at once, both shy and familiar to me. 

Dish on the first kiss!
Five hours have passed since I left the hotel. I call my friends who are still waiting there, and I vow to meet them and my baggage directly at the airport. The last flight to Naples is at seven-twenty. The Grand Canal is improbably empty, free of the usual tangle of skiffs and gondolas and sandoli, permitting the tassista to race his water taxi, lurching it, slamming it down brutally onto the water. Peter Sellers and I stand outside in the wind and ride into a lowering, dark red sun. I pull a silver flask from my purse and a tiny, thin glass from a velvet pouch. I pour out cognac and we sip together. Again, he looks as if he's going to kiss me, and this time he does- temples, eyelids, before he finds my mouth. We're not too old. 

(excerpt from Chapter One of A Thousand Days in Venice)

Where do you live now? 
We live in Orvieto, Italy. 

Have you learned each other's languages?
Yes we have, although we tend to speak in Italian when we're together. 

Any advice for mixed/long-distance couples?
Close the distance as quickly as you can, if you hearts are in it, you will find a way to overcome all the difficulties. There will be doubts and doubters. I left my children behind in America and it was one of most heart-wrenching of decisions. "I knew the difference between going off to university, knowing that home is few hundred miles away, and having one's mother dissolve that home to go and live in Europe. Now home would be six thousand miles away, not accessible on long weekends.". 

For more information about Marlena de Blasi and to check out her numerous books about Italy, check out her Amazon author page. 
​

This is part of the #DolceVitaBloggers Linkup – #12 January 2019.
​We are looking forward to another year of this wonderful community. Our goal is to connect over our shared love of Italy. Thank you all who have participated before, and those who join in the future!
If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below!
​
Past #DolceVitaBlogger Link-Ups:
#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup – #11 October 2018 – Hilarious Travel Mishaps
​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup – #10 September 2018 – Favourite Italian Recipe
​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #9 August 2018 - Culture Shock
​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #8 July 2018 - La Dolce Vita
​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #7 June 2018 - Hidden Gems in Italy
​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #6 May 2018 - Five Italian Words
​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #5 April 2018 - The Perfect Day in Italy
​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #4 March 2018 - International Women's Day
​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #3 February 2018 - A Love Letter to Italy
#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #2 January 2018 - Favourite Italian City
​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #1 December 2017 - 'The Italian Connection

If you enjoyed this post, you may also like to "dare un'occhiata" at all of the  Love Story Lunedì. 
There are so many amazing stories to read so make sure you're all caught up. And should you want to share your own story or know of a couple who would, please get in touch. The majority of these stories have been brought to me through word-of-mouth, so let's keep spreading the love. 

Here are our past Love Stories in no particular order: 
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Sherry and Andre
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Faith and Valerio
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Bianca and Luca
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Paula and Pontus
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Alicha and Dennis
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Arachi and Ciro
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Genia and Mattia
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Amanda and Michelangelo​
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Carmela and Paolo
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Evelyn and Fabio​
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Margarita and Andrea​
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Viki and Que
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Athena and André
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Rosa and Rocco
​​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Hayley and Mike
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Philippa and Nick
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Camie and Marco
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Alannah and Eros​​
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Cheyenne and Giulio
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Jade and Daniele
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Chloe and Andrea
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Coral and Riccardo
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Rachel and Riccardo
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Daria and Francesco
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Briana and Dami
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Kayla and Luca
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Sarah and Michele
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Bailey and Carlo​
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Gregory and Stefania
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Sofie and Emilio
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Isabel and David
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Jasmine and Massi
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Tiffany and Adam
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Angela and Davide
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Kristie and Graziano
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Brittni and Alberto
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Maddie and Gio
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Jennie and Davide
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Lauren and Luigi
LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Rebecca and Leonardo
​LOVE STORIES by Questa Dolce Vita: Jennifer and James

Introduction: This series is called "Ciao For Now" where I'm doing something a little unconventional- chatting with former expats who lived in Italy at some point in their life and ultimately left. We see so many blogs and stories about people who are currently living the fabled "dolce vita", but what about the ones who made the leap and then said "ciao for now", "arrivederci Roma", "alla prossima"? Being a naturally curious person, I see a ton of potential in making these stories known. Being an expat is not easy for anyone and sometimes I think Italy might be one of the hardest places to adjust to and I think that opening up this topic to discussion will hopefully help some of you who are maybe in a dilemma at the moment whether considering moving here or moving away from here. This is a series for all of us who have ever had a dream, lived it, and found a new one. It's a series for you, you with the little sing-song voice in your head saying- should I stay or should I go?
​

What made you leave? 
We would have loved to stay, but we had finished the 21-month plan and needed to start making money again. Also, John decided to follow up with graduate school in Syracuse, New York, so we moved there for 14 months, and I went back to work. 

Where are you now? 
We live in San Antonio, Texas and have a 13-year-old son. Coincidentally, John works for a sister school of John Cabot University. I became a freelance writer while living in Rome, and recently published a book about our adventure titled, “Times New Roman: How We Quit Our Jobs, Gave Away Our Stuff & Moved to Italy.”

Any regrets? 
None! We would do it all over again tomorrow if we could. 

Do you think you'd ever return to Italy? 
Yes. We took our son to visit Italy this summer. He absolutely loved it and told us, “I could live in Italy forever!” We’re trying to figure out a way to give him that living-abroad experience before he gets too much older. 

What's the one thing you miss the most about Italy? 
Not what you’d probably guess. I had a level of independence in Italy that I miss. I could walk right out of our door and hit the cobblestone streets and be in the middle of a bustling neighborhood. I could walk everywhere! Rome is a very walkable city, a gorgeous city and public transit is also very convenient so we didn’t need a car. I also felt safe walking anywhere I wanted to go. Being a city girl at heart, it was my dream come true!

What would you say to someone thinking of moving to Italy?
Take me with you!!!!  Okay, seriously, I’d say go now and don’t overthink it. Our regrets in life will be about the things we could have done, but didn’t. When we were trying to decide if we should take the chance or not, I kept thinking, “Two years are going to go by anyway. How am I going to feel in two years if we don’t take this opportunity? What about in twenty years?” Happily, we will never have to ask ourselves these questions.

What would you say to someone leaving Italy?
You will probably think of Italy as home in many ways for the rest of your life. That’s not a bad thing, and it’s a great excuse to go back often to visit. I like to say we need to visit once a year to keep in touch with our adopted Italian heritage. While maybe not technically of Italian descent, shouldn’t 21 months count for something? Certo!

About the Writer:
Martha is the author of Times New Roman available at Amazon Barnes & Noble and many other bookstores. Book website: http://timesnewromanbook.com
You can learn more about her on her blog Martha Miller Writes: http://marthamillerwrites.com. 
Follow her on Twitter: @TimesNewRomanIT

Grazie mille Martha for being part of this series. Dear readers, keep an eye out for more additions to this series, and more importantly, if you would like to share your story, send me an e-mail! 
​

​If you enjoyed this post, you may also like to "dare un'occhiata" at these ones or at the Expat Life
category on the sidebar. 

Past Ciao For Now posts:
Ciao For Now: Estrella of La Casabloga
​
Popular Posts on Dating and Relationships in Italy:
​How to Lose an Italian Guy in 10 Days
The Differences Between Dating an Italian and a Canadian
​What Do Italian Men Married to Non-Italian Women Have in Common?
Why Are There So Many American Girls with Italian Boys?
​Why We Love Italian Boys
​The Double Standard Between Italian Street Harassment and American
​Can Men and Women Be Friends? Here's How My Italian Colleagues Responded
Dating Diversity: Italy vs. Canada (and North America)
Cross-Cultural Dating: My First Jaw-Drop Moment with an Italian 
Italian Men: The Unofficial Guide for Wives and Girlfriends
How to Snag (and Keep) an Italian Man 
Asians and Italians…The Perfect Cross-Cultural Cocktail? ​​

Popular Posts about Language Struggles:
​How to Fight and Make Love in Two Languages
​Immunity to Accent Attractiveness: Can the Italian Accent Stop Being Sexy?
The English Stare and Getting "Englished" Living Abroad and How To Deal
What I'm Really Thinking While Speaking Italian as a Second Language

Popular Posts about General Expat Life:
​A Step-by-Step Guide on How to Hate Living in Italy
​My Hypothetical Italian Teenagers Won't Have Varsity Jackets or Homecomings
​My Canadian Identity Abroad in Italy: The Conundrum
FIVE Ways I've Become More ITALIAN in Canada
​Annoying Things Non-Canadians Say About Canada 
​Two Sides of the Italy Coin 
​Dating Diversity: Italy vs. Canada (and North America)
​Daily Things I Never Did Before Moving to Italy
​

The other day I was sifting through a billion photos (how I miss the days of taking a couple rolls on vacation and being limited to that number, back then you never had to scroll through fifty photos of a selfie your husband took with a fig…that’s another story) when I found one that stopped me in my tracks. It was one of those Pinterest graphics with fancy font for no reason. Upon further research, they are lines from a poem by Ijeoma Umebinyuo, part of her collection of poems Questions For Ada. They read as follows:

so, here you are
too foreign for home
too foreign for here.
never enough for both.

With my Instagram being made up of an eclectic mix of Italians abroad and foreigners in Italy, you can imagine the responses I received when I shared these words in my stories. Sometimes I wonder if there still exists a single person who feels like they are enough for the place they live this very moment. When you think about it, so many of us are already the product of a move. My grandparents from China to Canada, my husband’s aunts and uncles from Abruzzo to Canada, my little brother from Edmonton out East to Toronto, even my MIL (mother-in-law, suocera) from her small mountain town in Abruzzo to Bergamo…we have all in some way, moved. So if it’s any consolation, we are all too foreign for here and there.

Some of the Hallmark lines I hate the most are when people say “home is where the heart is” and “it doesn’t matter where in the world you are as long as you’re with the people you love”. I’m going to tell you something- the people that say that have never lived abroad. Because you see, what if the heart is in multiple different places? The concept of home breaks my heart because mine is in the house I grew up in, in a cemetery under a bright Alberta sky where we buried my grandpa and where my dad’s ashes hang out in the shade of an oak, mine is with my mother, brother, and all my living family members scattered throughout Canada and the United States, it’s here in this kitchen in Italy and hard at work somewhere in Milan with my husband; so once again, if home is where the heart is, it’s everywhere and nowhere. It has no GPS coordinates and you can't "go to it" and that, that is saddest sacrifice you will ever make as an expat, whether you realize it now or not.

The other thing about being with the people you love and the rest of it not mattering, that’s an idealist’s view of the world and this is coming from a romantic who would love to believe the romantic ideal. It’s just not true. I have seen too many people come and go from Italy to know that you can be with the perfect person and it won’t be enough. You can have your person and Tuscany and gelato anytime you want and it won’t be enough. And you know what? That’s completely fine, in fact, it’s completely how it should be. Because we need more from life than just what people can give us and if your life’s every happiness weighs on people, there’s something intrinsically wrong with that. YOU have to be enough for yourself and in order to do that, we require certain things and love is certainly ONE of those things (so is gelato), but so are a sense of community, a feeling of belonging, the opportunity to fulfill a purpose. Living abroad has made me realize that and that’s why it’s fucked me over for life because until that happened, I believed the romantic notions, I believed that home was a person, that home was love yet I was wrong and Thomas Wolfe, the novelist, was right.

He said you can’t go home again. I remember that this line opens up the coming-of-age movie, “Now and Then”, and I used to think it was the saddest thing I’d ever heard and that the whole point of the movie was to show that it wasn’t true (in fact, it’s the opposite). With the passage of time, we change, the people around us change, as does the place. For someone that has never moved, those are just three factors and the blow might be softened in that the changes are harder to perceive when you live them on a daily basis (like how it seems like your parents aren’t aging because wrinkles don’t just appear overnight). So this is where living abroad fucks you over again – it adds two more factors to the fun fix: THE PEOPLE AND THE PLACES YOU LEFT BEHIND. And how much do you think someone who lives abroad perceives the changes in those people and places when they come back “home”?

Well that depends on the person. Some expats I know say they go home and it’s like “nothing has changed” and they feel like only they themselves have changed. That’s how I used to feel but I think that’s the honeymoon phase of it all, in the first year or two. I wish for you, if you’re an expat, that this feeling of nothing having changed stays that way because that means you have not yet lost anyone you left behind, forever. Unfortunately I experienced two in the span of these four years and I can guarantee you that the moment that happens, everything changes and you will never go home again. At the risk of sounding overly depressing, there is a way to go home and it applies to all of us, whether you live abroad, are thinking about living abroad, or have vowed to build a house next to your childhood school:

We’ll all just have to carry Home, The Actuality, around with us, until our own blood stops pumping. And then Home, The Actuality, will have some new and just as unrecoverable shape: whatever Home is, it’s not something “out there” to return to. It’s something inside, to which we can all return (or not) as we want, as often as we want.

- quote from John E. Simpson, in his answer on Quora

I moved to Italy four years ago and whenever I board a plane going to Canada, I feel like I’m going home yet the same thing happens when I board the return flight back to Italy. It’s like a mind-fuck of the ultimate proportions. Maybe that’s why I love flying so much, I relish in those hours spent on the plane, suspended in the clouds above a blur of land and sea - perhaps that’s where I feel most comfortable, in the middle ground, neither here nor there, just physically and metaphorically floating in the in-between, carrying home with me.

Popular Posts about Living Abroad:
​Revelations: To Think of Love in English
​Creative Writing: Call Me Baby
​A Step-by-Step Guide on How to Hate Living in Italy
​My Hypothetical Italian Teenagers Won't Have Varsity Jackets or Homecomings
​My Canadian Identity Abroad in Italy: The Conundrum
FIVE Ways I've Become More ITALIAN in Canada
​Annoying Things Non-Canadians Say About Canada
​Two Sides of the Italy Coin
​Dating Diversity: Italy vs. Canada (and North America)
​Daily Things I Never Did Before Moving to Italy
​

I know it's late but better late than never right? First off, wishing all of you a wonderful start to this new year and hoping it'll be overfilling with love and happiness. If you need a few extra drops of those, you've certainly stumbled on the right place today. Let me just assure you, this one has all our favorite classics including an American abroad, a hot TUSCAN summer night, a crowded piazza, and a winking Italian. IT ALSO INCLUDES talking all night until the wee hours and the most awww-worthy wake-up call. Faith is a Maryland-native that stumbled upon the world's sweetest Italian in Arezzo, Italy while attending graduate school in the Tuscan city. Clichés fell into the place as they always do and Valerio stole her heart by being a normal Italian boy (read: handsome, charming, stylish, romantic, affectionate, and the list goes on!). Read on lovers. 

​Where are you from and where is your significant other from? 
I’m from Maryland in the United States and my boyfriend Valerio is from Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. I came to Italy about 2 years ago to go to graduate school in Arezzo, and met Valerio after I had been there for a year. 

Where and when did you meet your significant other? 
I met him in a crowded piazza on a hot summer night (classic). I was out with friends (also American students) and some of them had met Valerio already so they introduced us. He was asking what I was doing here in Italy, and I told him I was studying theatre. When he shook my hand he said to me in Italian, “I can tell that you’re an actress,” and then throughout the rest of the conversation he kept winking at me. What a flirt. By the end of just five minutes, I thought, “Okay, this is going to be something.” 

Curator's Note:  thank you so much for setting this scene, I think there's nothing I love more than a hot Italian pizza on a crowded summer's night. PIAZZA I MEAN. PIAZZA, not pizza. A CROWDED PIAZZA ON A HOT SUMMER'S NIGHT. But also pizza. 

Who made the first move? 
He did! As a group we walked from the piazza to a block party in celebration of the joust (I totally feel like I’m living in medieval times sometimes) and we hung back to walk together alone. I remember he stopped at a little prayer shrine to Mary and said, “Oh Santa Maria, please help me teach this girl Italian!” Then we walked to a little park and sat and talked for hours, and that was where he first kissed me! The next morning he texted me “Buongiorno!” and I saw him again that next night, and every single night after that. 

Curator's Note:  the best lines in this whole thing are clearly "we walked from the piazza to a block party in celebration of the joust".  I doubt I'll ever read anything more #LivingInItaly as long as I live. 

What was your first impression of him?
My first impression was that he was handsome and very charming, but I could also tell instantly that we had chemistry and that he was as drawn to me as I was to him. I also noticed what a good dresser he was, and in general really put together. Being an American I wasn’t so accustomed to men being better dressed than I am! Then, as the days progressed, I was pretty blown away by how affectionate and romantic he was, physically and verbally, and how forthcoming open he was with his romantic side. I remember the first night he spent the night at my apartment, his phone alarm went off in the morning, and it was “At Last” by Etta James, one of the most romantic songs of all time. I remember being so surprised and impressed by his emotional side and attentiveness to me! He was also just so fun – he’d show up and surprise me with random treats or to ask me to go on a walk with him. 

Curator's Note: my little 'ol heart just melted all over my kitchen table. Seriously, it's a huge mess and it's all your fault. In order to enhance this part of the story, I've included the song that was Valerio's phone alarm below so we can all just listen to it as we mop up our melted hearts and mould it back into place. 

​Dish on the first kiss!
We were sitting really close and talking about something, and he looked into my eyes and said, “sei molto sensibile” and then kissed me. Then he walked me home and we basically stopped and kissed every quarter mile. And that was just the first night we met!

Where do you live now? 
We live in Arezzo!

Curator's Note: I am coming to visit without a doubt. Thanks for the invite guys! 

Have you learned each other's languages?
Valerio’s English is so so good, and we mostly communicate in English. I am in the never-ending process of learning and improving my Italian, but we probably speak 70% English and 30% Italian. We try to speak it more, and get a little better every day! Sometimes he speaks in Italian and I answer in English, or I speak in Italian and he answers in English, or we just throw a random word in the other language in there every so often when we don’t know the translation. Our translator app is our best friend. Anytime we have a fight Valerio gets impatient with me because I talk a mile a minute in English and he’s trying to translate everything he wants to say but I talk too much to let him, haha.

Me not being so great at Italian is a big struggle for me mostly because I have a hard time participating in conversation when we’re with his friends or family, and I feel like it’s hard for Valerio’s loved ones to get to know me, because I can’t adequately express everything I want to. It can be embarrassing or isolating for me at times. That sucks, but I know the better I get at Italian the easier it will be. 

Curator's Note: we have ALL been there, every single one of us that has ever been featured on Love Story Lunedì. I think I've only ever featured one couple when the non-Italian half was already studying Italian in school prior to meeting her fellow. So just want to tell you that you're not alone and that this period won't last, it only goes up and sometimes it doesn't feel that way because it's hard to notice your own improvement in a language over time but trust me, you are improving. 

Any advice for mixed/long-distance couples?
I always say that being in a mixed culture couple is a blessing because you can never run out of things to talk about. We are always discovering new things about each other or about each other’s culture. Of course miscommunication and cultural differences occasionally create challenges that other couples don’t have, but I think we’ve both learned to be more flexible and understanding because of them. 

Curators note: this is so true, Massi and I are always having fun explaining new words in Italian or English to the other and just the other night, we got into a big discussion about something in English that he interpreted one way and that I interpreted in another. 

Submitted by Faith. 

Here's how you can connect with her:
Twitter: @thefsullivansho
Instagram: @faithsulli
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