Ciao !
" Questa e' la vista dalla tua stanza". "This is the view from your room" said Antonio. I was on the phone with him last October trying to decide to reserve his family's B&B in the town of Scilla which is at the very end of Calabria (one of my three favorite regions along with Sicily and Abruzzo) before you jump the Straights of Messina to get to Sicily. During our telephone conversation he sent a short video from the room showing the sea.
Remember, Scilla is also the "colleague" of my beloved Cariddi, the Greek gods who guarded and terrorized the waters between Messina and Calabria.
I was hosting a good friend for a week in Italy wanting to show her some of the coastal but tiny towns between Rome and Sicily and was looking also for something "authentic" (such an overused and difficult to define word).
We arrived at the train station and Antonio's friend arrived on an ATV to pick us up and take us to the hotel. THAT was the best way to be introduced to Scilla!
Our room was almost IN the sea, I could have spent the entire two days and nights on that balcony, or terrace, and even now often use the sound of those lapping waves and seagulls when I need to take a 5 minute break from my life.
Scilla is tiny, spectacular in beauty and is often called "Little Venice" for its houses on or almost in the sea, tiny canals, fishing boats everywhere. But for me, it's alwaaaaaays about the people.
Antonio's family owns and runs the small hotel. Antonio told us a lot about the fishing history of the town, they're known Italy-wide for their swordfish and he often pointed out the swordfish "runs" in the sea during breakfast. The breakfast room was also basically sitting in the sea and was usually filled with family-made pastries and fruit from their organic farm.
And then there was Nella, this beautiful and hilarious and warm woman who happened to be Antonio's mother. Once she learned that I spoke Italian, we couldn't get enough words in, often almost yelling at each other. I adore and admire this woman for so many reasons.
When we left, she presented me with her great grandfather's vinegar and a bottle of olive oil from their aforementioned farm.
Becky and I spent two wonderful days exploring and eating and drinking and talking and just being in Scilla. It was glorious and it was a blast. And amazingly delicious.
And, you know it's not the pretty scenery that makes a place "authentic", it's the sum of all of these amazing parts: the history of the place that defines who it is now, the basic foods that are out of this world because of how simple and healthy and unmarked by technology and that speak also to the history and diet of the area, and finally to the genuine warmth and connection of the people that just blows you away and that you (I) cannot get enough of.
THIS...is MY Italy. | 
