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This is a roundup of anecdotes happened on travels in northern Italy, in this article mainly of encounters during travels, specifically in the regions of:
- Lombardy
- Friuli
- Aosta Valley
- Piedmont
- Liguria
- Veneto
To Emilia-Romagna and Trentino-Alto Adige I have dedicated special spaces. These have been trips and journeys taken both in pairs and solo.
In this article I will talk specifically about encounters during trips to northern Italy, specifically during concerts; in Liguria and Turin.
Travel in northern Italy on the road, but it depends
Tank full, sunglasses, and rock music, before we (maybe) figured out how google algorithms work, that should have been the title. The deliberately inaccurate quote from the movie The blues Brothers is perfect for a genre of travel I love, the on-the-road kind.
Although to be precise I often used public transportation in Italy. I also prefer on-the-road in the center and south because there are so many landscapes that I love. Of course there are beautiful ones in the north as well. But let’s admit that the Po Valley to cross is really a drag. But if it’s to visit small places or the mountains, clearly the car is the best solution. But for travel in northern Italy, if the destinations are big cities, the train is great.
For those who do not know, the correct citation would be:
We have a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we wear sunglasses. I don’t smoke, I don’t like driving at night, but I love rock and roll!
With the same shirt in the midst of thousands of people
One subgenre of travel is that related to rock concerts. For these I have made many trips, sometimes combined with tours of other kinds (Taormina and Rome). Others just for the music. For concerts I almost always went with friends, sometimes with girlfriends, almost never alone.
To Florence for Bruce Springsteen: we were drenched from a thunderstorm that lasted for hours, I deliberately peed my pants so as not to go to the now indecent public toilets. From Turin for U2 in one pull, to stay awake I propounded an endless monologue about my romantic misadventures to my 3 traveling companions who alternated every hour (one listened to me and two slept).
On the way to Milan for the Cure we were stopped by a patrol car with a drug-sniffing dog. They got very impatient because we did not want to admit our guilt of which they were certain. They soon let us go, the dog was pointing at my backpack saturated with salami sandwiches.
In Bologna, still for U2, on a very hot July day my chocolate supply melted. I tried to make up for it by drinking it through a juice straw, a mess.
Also in Bologna, for Green day; in line I stood next to someone with the same jersey as me. Not an obvious one from some rock band (although I am usually in a Francesco Guccini jersey), but one of my classic travel jerseys and bought on the road! In New York’s China Town, while the other guy in Boston.
Many concerts have been on trips to northern Italy, unfortunately fewer are being done in the south, but things are changing.
In line at the 5 terre and the undecided Genovese
Once I went to Genoa (2021) with worries about my father who was sick. But at home I would not have been able to help him and the climate was heavy. I needed to breathe.
The 5 terre can be visited well and cheaply by train from Genoa. The base in the city was also to see some people. And not to get too melancholy especially on the evening of December 31. Also considering that the last few had been forced home for Covid.
On the 30th I went out with a chick. Before I got into the car in which she proposed to drive me back to my quarters she put her hands out warning me that I should not try it. I looked at her a little astonished and said okay, that was the end of it for me. The next day she called me. With an air of controversy she told me that she was hurt that I was going to the 5 terre alone and that I had not asked her to see me again.
I replied that she had told me at the time that she was not interested in the 5 lands and I had understood that she did not like me that much. She replied that if one was not there the first night, it did not mean that she was not interested. I pointed out to her that I would be there 3 days, we were 400 km away and, in my opinion, if there was attraction, a peck on the first night would not be so strange, but that it was no problem, it was 8 a.m. and I would be back mid-afternoon so we could meet afterwards.
No, I changed my mind, I don’t want to see you anymore
Travel in northern Italy, Liguria in many ways
My vacations are obligatory: either the Christmas season or July and August. That is why several times I have chosen Liguria in winter, as the northern region with the best climate. I have been there in all various possible moods.
With my former historian (i.e., the one who put up with me the most), we went to the Levant and inland. By car, from my home it is long but I always drove I had just arrived from Porec in Croatia (always driving) where I had been for a basketball tournament. It was an 11-hour drive in not even a day and a half. We arrived on the 31st and there was a free Edoardo Bennato concert in San Remo in the square, I would have seen it all, but my partner had fallen asleep standing up, she was more tired than me; how much energy I had at the time!
I had actually been there before on a school trip, heartbroken over a classic, unrequited teenage love, which, however, had some hope as she was also in the same bus as me. Heartbroken but hopeless I had it years later for another love I didn’t understand about, because in theory it was corresponded but in practice it wasn’t; I had kind of run away from home to distract myself, but in these cases the trip is almost useless.
Then I went there at a very peaceful time in my life to visit Genoa, one of the most underrated cities in Italy. I particularly enjoyed my solitude and it was very pleasant to wander around the alleys of the old city (the ones sung by Fabrizio De André) to work off a fish dinner. Except for meeting a huge rat who had more to do than consider me.
New Year’s Eve in solitude with lasagna, red wine and chocolate
I slept in a pretty little room in an attic. It was a single room in a hostel that, however, gave onto a square haunt of drug dealers. I thought that returning late on the evening of the 31st might be an opportunity for harassing encounters. I planned my alternative New Year’s Eve by stopping by a deli: trio of lasagna, bottle of red, and dark chocolate stick with hazelnuts. I warmed up in the hostel kitchen and ate the lasagna there. The hostel staff rushed me because they had to close (they were having dinner in the next room and saw fit to invite me), and I longed for the chocolate waiting for me in the attic,
By 11 p.m. I was sound asleep, and the next day I woke up early for a fantastic walk along the sunny waterfront. For lunch I stopped at a restaurant that overlooked the sea, with several locals ordering seafood platters, I did the same while behind me a couple of Orientals ordered pizza with fries. Among my trips to northern Italy so far, several times I have been to Genoa, but I will return.
Train crash
One of the positive aspects of going off on your own is that you never know who you might meet. Some times I arrange ahead of time to find someone I know and live in the place. Or looking for someone unknown with the various apps. Going around places with locals can add value to the experience.
When I went to Turin I had previously contacted a guy who was my companion on a group trip. We met for a quick drink because he was very busy. I also arranged with someone I met on a dating site. I like to find out the specialties of places, including culinary, but he wanted to take me for Mexican food.
I was very impressed with Superga as the site of the famous tragedy. I found both the Egyptian museum and the film museum memorable. By now I have seen so many museums that now I only go if there is something special, otherwise I prefer to wander around. If you have a clear mind you always come across something worthy, like a group of musicians playing Black Tammurriata by the New Folk Singing Company in the portico of Piazza San Carlo.
Fulfilled by all this I boarded the train convinced that I would have no more surprises. Instead, as I had often imagined but never had, I found myself in the same compartment with only one person. She was a very interesting beautiful girl who was coming right to my neck of the woods for a series of courses and so I could then meet several times.
Next step Problems with accommodation on trips to northern Italy
Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent
Countries visited in my travel stories
Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives
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