DW- Those are incredible! I want to fucking climb that epic plateau and look down upon that valley. I want to live in beautiful Italy =(
Thanks! This was the first time I had been in the Trentino/Alto Adige region, and I immediately fell in love with it. Friuli, where I live, is also very rugged and beautiful and you're not as isolated here as you are in Trentino, but I still would love to have a summer home there. Winter would be pretty harsh, but the entire region is basically a giant ski resort.
I can see how people would get bored living there; there's really not that much around, and the closest big city is probably Innsbruck in Austria, about an hour and a half away. However, I don't think I'd mind very much. Northern Italy is a far cry from anything in the south; everything is much more organized, precise, and modern. You can still see, however, the strong Bavarian influence on the people and the region in Trentino. I had to remind myself several times that I wasn't in Austria and still in Italy...it's exactly like being in Austria there...even the daily habits of people are similar.
Many people mention Italy when talking about how things close early and they take long breaks during the day...but honestly it's not true. There are two to three hour breaks for lunch, but then the businesses stay open until 8 or 9 at night. In Austria, they roll up the sidewalks at like 6 pm and there's NOTHING open except the pubs. Trentino was the same. That's probably one of the main reasons keeping me from moving.
I talk a lot about Italy and how nice it is, and truly it is really nice, but I have to be honest. I'm not living in Italy and getting dual-citizenship because I love Italy so much. I'm doing it because of the European community. Life in Italy is both extremely rewarding, fun, and pleasurable and at the same time extremely frustrating, but not in major ways. Just small things that irk me and others. Convenience is not in their vocabulary, although they are getting better. The fact that it's a founding member of the EU is why I'm still here. The EU, while it has its faults as well, is probably one of the best things to happen to Europe. Being an Italian citizen makes you an EU citizen and affords you all the rights therein.
If you'd like to live here, unless Italy is a dream of yours and you know your way around the Italian lifestyle, as an American coming from the states, I'd probably choose a different country to live in. The Scandinavian countries have a fantastic quality of life and if I could, I'd probably move there. The good thing about Italy, however, is that you don't need lots of money to have a great life here. The people are always having festivals everywhere all year, which means eating, drinking, partying, and fucking for the rest of your life; and Italians do all four extremely well. Those things are pretty much the only things they do well.
Now if I could just convince them to let go of 80's metal...
