Transcript with Show Notes Embedded:
Sonia Piacente: You know, I love everything. I honestly truly do. I think it’s because I came here and I walked the streets and there wasn’t this mass tourism. Everything was slower. The people in my neighborhood were genuinely nice and helping me assimilate to living here in the culture and they really did help me a lot.
Kathy McCabe: This is Kathy McCabe. Welcome to the Dream of Italy podcast. You know me from the PBS travel series Dream of Italy and the award-winning website and publication. Join me as we explore the sights and sounds of Bella Italia. From the canals of Venice to the piazzas of Puglia. From the fashion houses of Milan to the vineyards of Tuscany. Hop on, it’s going to be a great ride. Andiamo!
So I’m Kathy McCabe of the Dream of Italy podcast and we’re doing a series on where to live, move and retire in Italy now. And one of my favorite places ever for decades now is Torino and Turin in Piemonte. And Sonia Piacente is joining me. She’s originally American. We met through social media and we are also interviewing another woman who recently moved to Torino. But Sonia’s been there for a while, so we’re going to get the scoop from her. Sonia, welcome.
[01:36]
Sonia: Thank you.
Kathy: I’m not even sure of your story, so we’ll just learn it as other people do. Where are you originally from? And there’s always a long story and a shorter story. The shorter story of how you made it to Torino.
Sonia: Okay, well, I am originally from Dallas, Texas and born and raised. But I met my husband when he was there on a work contract with his company. So he had an H-1B visa.
Kathy: Impressive.
Sonia: And moved to Fort Worth to work at Lockheed Martin.
Kathy: Wow, he must be a smart guy.
Sonia: He’s an engineer, electronic engineer. So that was May of 2006. And I got a random message via MySpace.
Kathy: Whoa, girl.
Sonia: So we’re talking a long time ago.
Kathy: Dating yourself.
Sonia: I know. But I saw that he was Italian and my mom has always been a fan of all things Italy. And so I thought, oh, we can be friends and he can teach me Italian and mom and I can go to Italy on vacation. So I thought that was going to be it. We met and I was just well, he’s nice, we can be friends. We were engaged a month later.
Kathy: Whoa, those Italians.
Sonia: When they know, they know. So we got engaged. That was September. So we met in September of 2006. We got engaged at the end of October. I came to Torino for the first time to meet his family during New Year’s Eve. So that was very interesting and fun. And by May, we were married on May 26th. So we’re coming up on our 19th anniversary.
Kathy: Wow, that is such a great story. When you know, you know.
Sonia: Yeah.
Kathy: So when you got engaged, did you think you would be moving to Italy or did you think you guys would be living in Texas? Okay, that was part of it.
Sonia: No, that was part of it. Because when we did get engaged, we sat down and hashed out everything. He said, “Look, this is what my life is like.” He’s like, “I’m sorry, I cannot promise you everything.” Because I think he knew that when people dream of moving to Italy, they think of la dolce vita. They see all the great stuff, all the romantic parts of Italy. He’s like, “I come from a poor family. We don’t travel a lot, we don’t have a lot of money.” He’s like, “So we’re going to be poor, but I promise you we’ll be happy.” And he kept his promise. He really did.
Kathy: Oh good. Good, good.
Sonia: So yeah, but then we had gotten married and by the time his contract ended, we had to come back. So that’s how I got here.
[04:37]
Kathy: And does he still work as an engineer or work for Lockheed?
Sonia: Yes. Same company. The same company that had sent him to Lockheed.
Kathy: Right. Okay. And so what were your first impressions of Torino? Coming from Dallas, I mean, what a difference, right?
Sonia: Yes, it was a huge difference. Because I actually come from a small town outside of Dallas where I mostly grew up and it’s just small town vibes. You go everywhere with a car. Then when I was living in Dallas, again, the public transport is not the best. So coming here and having… it was a brand new metro because they had it built for the Olympics. So brand new. I liked it. I really, really liked it. I was weary of, okay, well, what’s life really going to be like? Because I didn’t know the language, I didn’t know anybody. So meeting his friends and family, everyone’s chit chatting and I’m just sitting there listening.
Kathy: Yeah.
Sonia: And it brought me back to an old episode of Sex and the City.
Kathy: Oh yes, that’s the reference for everybody.
Sonia: Not similar ages.
Kathy: Exactly. That scene where she is in Paris with her partner at the time. Everyone’s speaking French and she’s just sitting there smiling, “Okay.”
Sonia: I felt that. I was just, okay, am I really going to do this? But I said, we had talked about it. We discussed everything about what happens if it doesn’t work out. What do I do, what do we do if we have kids and then it doesn’t work out? What do we do if we’re here for a long time, we have kids and then something happens to one of us? What happens then? We hashed out everything.
Kathy: Very smart to talk about this. Very smart.
Sonia: You can’t make a decision that big just with your heart. I mean, you really do have to think about it. You really have to sit there and go, okay, we need to be smart about this because we’re mixing two people from two different cultures, two different backgrounds and two completely different faiths, to start a life together in a different… Someone’s going to be comfortable in their life, someone’s not going to be comfortable. So we had a lot of talking to do and it worked. It worked out for us.
[07:05]
Kathy: And you mentioned that you’re Hispanic. Do you find though there’s a lot of similarities between…
Sonia: Yes.
Kathy: So it was more familiar perhaps? Tell me.
Sonia: There was a lot of things that were familiar, yes. Like the family dinners with cousins and aunts. At the beginning, it was just really close knit and reminded me of all the times I had with my aunts and my cousins and everything. So a lot of that was very familiar. And food is a big deal. So a lot of the times everything’s around the dinner table and that just would bring me back to all the times I would go visit my grandparents and there was nobody in the living room, you walked straight into the kitchen where everyone’s sitting around the kitchen table and they were having their coffee or sweets or whatever. So some of that really hit home and I was just it was really comforting. So it helped with the transition a little bit.
Kathy: And how has Torino… we’ll jump around a little bit. How has it changed, how long have you been there and how has it changed, if it has at all?
Sonia: It has changed a lot. I have been here almost 17 years. Actually no, I’ve been 17 years. It has been actually. And it has changed a lot. I used to be able to go into the city center and not hear hardly any English. And now all of a sudden it’s everywhere I turn. It’s just there are so many students and just families. And now in the last I would say three years, just this boom of tourism.
Kathy: Yeah.
Sonia: Every time I go, there are just more and more groups of tourists. And not just schools, but actual tourists coming in, in groups and in buses. And I can’t believe it. Maybe Torino is finally going to get a little bit of attention.
Kathy: It’s such a wonderful place. And I think they thought they would get a lot more after the Olympics.
Sonia: Everyone did.
Kathy: I think it started, but it is such an unsung place. I love it. And it’s so different. It’s just that Savoy, French influence, the architecture, it’s a little different than any other city.
[09:14]
Sonia: It is. And that’s what I tell people before they come here is just don’t look at it from the perspective of it’s not like Rome and it’s not like Florence. It’s not supposed to be and it’s never going to be. None of the places you visit in Italy are going to be the same. Every city has its own charm. Torino is very much French influenced because that’s what the Savoy family was from. So we have a lot of that architecture.
Kathy: Do you think the Torinese are a little closed, or not as much as people would think?
Sonia: I do think they are. And I think… now, I think the true Torinese are because I think who are truly from Torino, truly Piemontese, probably have some royal lineage, so that could be just part of their character. But I find that there are very few people here who are really truly Piemontese or even from Torino. Most of everybody’s from the south.
Kathy: That’s what’s interesting. Tell me about that. Everyone left, these jobs are in the north.
Sonia: Yeah, all the jobs are in the north. My in-laws were from the south. My mother-in-law is from Naples.
Kathy: Oh, okay.
Sonia: And my husband’s father was from Molise.
Kathy: That’s nice. I like those southern Italians. So you married well.
Sonia: So yeah. And so my experience when people say that the Italians from the north are very cold, they’re closed off. I can say, okay, yes, some are, but I have not had any of the experiences that a lot of other people have because I have been so lucky because my in-laws are from Naples and from Molise and they’re very warm and very friendly. My mother-in-law just welcomed me with open arms the first time I met her. And she just wanted to make sure that I was in it for the long haul with her son. And I’m don’t worry, I’m going to be here. But she taught me how to make pizza the first time we met. She taught me how to make pizza and crostata and she was just so happy to have another daughter. One who liked to cook.
Kathy: So it wasn’t… sometimes those Italian mother-in-laws get a bad rap.
Sonia: They do. They do. And it just depends. And I understand that because they do really just want to help. So I get that. They’re very involved. There have been times when I was just oh, I wish she’d just calm down a little bit.
Kathy: Back off.
[11:51]
Sonia: Yes. But she was a big help when my girls were little. I gotta say, she, even with, she had a lot of health problems, she continued to offer help anytime she came over. She’s “Do you want me to pick anything up, wash your dishes, do this?” And I’m “No, no. Just have a seat, play with the girls.”
Kathy: Yeah. Tell me about raising your daughters in Torino. And we were talking before, now it’s a little different because your husband’s Italian, but there are a lot of families that are thinking about moving with their school-age children. It’s just more of an option than ever before. And as an American, what have you thought about the Italian school system or how it works?
Sonia: Well, it is definitely a lot harder than what I remember.
Kathy: I’ve heard this, yeah.
Sonia: In fact, I was just talking to my daughter, one of my daughters the other day. I was just, everything was so much easier when I was in school because they can’t believe that I took algebra in high school. And I’m that’s what it was. I took algebra in high school when my middle schooler is doing algebra right now.
Kathy: Oh, really?
Sonia: And she’s in the seventh grade. And I’m well, it’s a little bit different. And so it’s just interesting to see how much they’re studying and what they’re studying at what grade level. And I’m just I don’t even remember if that was even an option in high school. And so I tell them, I’m you have to remember I… when they ask for help, I’m I’m sorry, it’s been a long time. But I mean, it’s a lot of work. And the way that things are graded. Like they have homework, but they don’t get graded on their homework. They just have to go back. It gets checked to see if it’s been done. If it’s been done correctly. But their grades all come from just tests, oral interrogations and behaviors.
Kathy: That’s what’s so different. I didn’t have to do much of that. Maybe French class I had to recite a poem in French. But I didn’t… I think this is one advantage of the Italian school system is the oral testing. Because that’s more real life, I think.
Sonia: I think so, and it starts in elementary school.
Kathy: Wow.
Sonia: And so all those times when they’re just I have to memorize this poem because then I have to get in front of my teacher and recite this poem. And I’m just why? And I’m okay, I understand they make you memorize the poem and everything, but then I realized it’s literally an oral interrogation because then they have to, by third grade when they start studying a little bit more, that’s when they have to really study and then they get interrogated in front of the teacher and have to answer maybe three or four questions over the topic, the material that they had to study.
Kathy: Yeah.
[14:42]
Sonia: And so that goes all the way through university. So… or I mean maybe high school and then university. But not sure about university, we’re not there yet.
Kathy: Yeah. But then is there an international school or in Torino?
Sonia: There is. There are several. There’s the international school, the International School of Turin. Then there’s WINS. There’s several bilingual schools. So there are different options here.
Kathy: Have you heard any… if any of those like the International School of Turin is good or people are happy with it or…
Sonia: I know some people are really happy. When I first got here, I did meet a family who, the mother was not happy at all. Because she said that she felt her daughter never progressed in her Italian because they just had so many new people coming in that they just kept repeating everything over and over again. Again, that was almost 20 years ago.
Kathy: Right. But I think that’s… I think the parents who are moving, their families have to pick a track, right? Are you going to go to the Italian school?
Sonia: And that’s… yeah, that’s the hardest part is a lot of times in the Facebook groups that I’m a part of, that is the most common question is what are the schools like, what’s international school versus maybe a bilingual school. There is a public bilingual school, Spinelli.
Kathy: Oh, good to know. Okay.
Sonia: And so they do, so it’s a public school, but they have so many international students. So it’s great for those who want the international feel, but want to keep it in the Italian public school system.
Kathy: That’s a great option. That’s a really great option. And what do you think about… do you live in the center or outskirts?
Sonia: I live in the outskirts of the center. I actually live on the border of Turin and two other towns. So I’m right at the edge of town, but…
Kathy: Okay. And what are the housing options? I mean, is it hard to find something in Turin it is in these other cities or not?
Sonia: Right now it is. The housing market has been insane. I just… a lot of people can’t find houses to rent. The rent is hard. It’s funny, I’d move to Italy and I want to rent. And it is, this is part of why people buy, because it’s hard to rent.
Kathy: Yeah.
Sonia: It is. My mother-in-law actually found our house, we bought our house. But she found it. When we told her we were engaged, she went immediately looking for a house. And so when we came here, I saw this house and we were okay, this is our house. And he bought it almost immediately. But just recently, maybe three weeks ago, I heard that our neighbors put their house up for sale. I kid you not, in one weekend, there were at least 40 people coming to see this house.
Kathy: And is it people from Turin, is it foreigners? Is it… they just need more housing?
Sonia: It just needs more housing. I mean, even the agency had rung us up on the intercom and he was just so your neighbor’s selling. He’s “I’ve got 40 appointments this weekend, but I want to know if you’re interested in looking at the house.”
Kathy: Right, right.
[17:56]
Sonia: And I’m “No, we’re fine. But thanks.” He’s “Okay, I just wanted to give you that option before we keep going with all these people.” But at least I can count how many people I would hear everyone in the hallway. at least six, seven people. Different people, different times. I’m what is going on? And then we found out they were moving. I’m okay, well.
Kathy: Yeah, no, I think that’s the biggest challenge is finding the place to live.
Sonia: Yeah. I mean, and I can see plenty of places that are for sale, but they are so expensive. Even for a small apartment, it’s really…
Kathy: How much are they starting at? a couple hundred, 300?
Sonia: It really depends on the neighborhood. Depends on the building itself. For example, I think if we were to sell this house right now, because we live on the top floor of our building and I’ve got an amazing view, I have the entire city and valley. I could easily sell for 250, I think. probably even more. 250,000 at least.
Kathy: Yeah.
Sonia: But yeah, it just depends. There is a house in my neighborhood that I saw that the girls and I were joking, were okay, we just need to win the lottery, we can get this house. It’s seven rooms, two bathrooms, a terrace and a balcony. And it was going for 380,000.
Kathy: Here’s the thing though, that’s cheaper than America.
Sonia: It is cheaper than America.
Kathy: Most places. Probably even Dallas now. But of course, Americans are making more money. You got a bigger salary, better salaries. So it’s more affordable for them. What do you… what do you really love about the food, maybe? Torino… what is it, when you are very proud of where you live, what is it about Torino?
Sonia: You know, I love everything. I honestly truly do. I think it’s because I came here and I walked the streets and there wasn’t this mass tourism. Everything was slower. The people in my neighborhood were genuinely nice and helping me assimilate to living here in the culture and they really did help me a lot. So I think it was just the overall way that my community, my neighborhood itself really tried to make me feel comfortable and which then made me feel comfortable going into town.
Kathy: I love that.
Sonia: And I think because I got here at the end of 2006, so right after the year of the Olympics, people knew a little bit of English, they got excited that someone had continued to stay.
Kathy: Yeah. Yeah.
Sonia: But when people come here, I just… I want to show them everything. I want to show them the city…
Kathy: Where do you take them? So give us some travel tips while we’ve got you on here. Somebody’s coming. Where would you take them?
Sonia: Well, the first thing I do is I ask them what is it that they want to, if there’s anything in particular they want to see, what they’re into. For example, my nephew came to visit a couple months ago and he is really into the dark, mysterious things.
[21:18]
Kathy: I’m sort of into that.
Sonia: So I said to him, I said, well, we do have a nighttime tour.
Kathy: I want to do that next time. I’m curious about… do you think Turin’s very mystical?
Sonia: It is. Especially in the fall when the fog rolls in. There’s nothing better than walking the streets when it’s nice and foggy and it’s mysterious. But I was just we do have this tour because Turin sits exactly in the angle of the triangle of white magic and dark magic. So you’ve got two different parts of the city where you have two different vibes. And so I made a little itinerary for him of this tour that you can do.
Kathy: Is there a specific one you well, you can send us a link or the one you’d recommend.
Sonia: I think there’s a few.
Kathy: I need to do that next time. I’m very… yeah, some more tours. When I came back in February, and we should have met then, but I went back to the Shroud. The Shroud before, and of course that’s part of it too.
Sonia: That’s part of it too. And I think that anyone who is really into religion, who’s really religious, would also love that as well. But I always recommend to go to the Cinema Museum, that’s my absolute favorite. You cannot miss that. The Egyptian Museum, of course. You have to see that. The royal residences, the royal garden. If anybody likes automobiles, you have to go to the Automobile Museum. There’s just so much to do.
Kathy: There is.
Sonia: I mean, a day is not… I can’t do anything in a day. You can’t even barely do it in a weekend.
Kathy: It really… Torino has got a lot to offer. Now let’s cut to the chase, the food. Some of the best in Italy.
[23:03]
Sonia: There’s so much.
Kathy: What are you obsessed with? What do you love to eat there?
Sonia: Everything. Agnolotti.
Kathy: Oh, I love agnolotti.
Sonia: I love the agnolotti with just the basic sugo di arrosto. Nothing beats that. to me that’s the best. Vitello tonnato is one that I had to get used to. I don’t really like it.
Kathy: I don’t really like it. Explain what it is, explain what it is.
Sonia: So vitello tonnato is very thinly sliced veal with a tuna sauce. And it sounds so odd.
Kathy: Gross.
Sonia: It really does. It really does sound gross. And at first I was just no. I don’t think so.
Kathy: It grew on you.
Sonia: It did. It grew on me and now it’s… I actually like it. It’s actually delicious. The same as salsiccia di Bra. The thought of eating raw sausage or even any raw meat kind of grossed me out. I actually enjoy it now.
Kathy: Very good. And of course the chocolate.
Sonia: The chocolate. Gianduja. Il cremino. I mean, I…
Kathy: And you were saying I missed out on some good gelato. There’s really good gelato. I had some, but…
Sonia: Here’s the thing about gelato in Turin. My personal opinion is you cannot go wrong with any gelateria in town.
Kathy: Really? That’s…
Sonia: Because I personally think because we don’t have that mass tourism, you don’t have the fake gelato leaning.
Kathy: You don’t have the fake…
[24:38]
Sonia: Exactly. So pretty much any gelateria you go to is going to be an artisan gelato. Now of course we do have the chains. We do have Grom, we have La Romana. They’re good. La Romana is delicious.
Kathy: But you want to have the really… yeah.
Sonia: Exactly: But if you want to try… exactly. But pretty much anywhere you go in town, you’re going to have a good gelato. So that’s… I love gelato.
Kathy: And the wine.
Sonia: I don’t drink wine, so I can’t…
Kathy: You don’t really drink it much anymore?
Sonia: I don’t drink it at all and people think I’m crazy.
Kathy: I can’t tolerate so much. Maybe that’s my age. I should keep that a secret. But I’ll have a few sips. But what’s interesting is in America fewer and fewer people are drinking.
Sonia: Really?
Kathy: Yeah. It’s a very big trend. And I wonder how it’s affecting… I’m certain when Americans go to Italy, they’re drinking the wine.
Sonia: I’m sure they are. But it’s funny that you say that because also here, and you wouldn’t know it because nobody talks about it, but more and more people aren’t drinking here as well. Even coffee.
Kathy: I have a theory. Oh, coffee! No, I cannot give that up. I have a theory. I think COVID, I think for some people COVID… I think it’s also for me, I think age, you start to get older and you can’t, really… if even if I have two glasses, the next day I do not feel good. I just don’t feel good. And I think COVID might have, people have a little bit of long COVID or they just don’t… the body’s not processing it, I think… That’s my theory. I don’t know. I think it’s maybe part of it. But it’s an interesting trend to see and whether that will affect exports. And you say it’s happening in Italy with Italians?
Sonia: Yes. I mean, you said, a lot of it is people are getting older. So their body isn’t able to digest things. They digest it correctly. A lot of people will say, “Oh I can’t have it past after six o’clock because then it upsets my stomach, I stay up late or I can’t go to bed.” For a variety of reasons. But I actually do have friends who don’t drink. Period. Or myself, I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t drink coffee.
Kathy: Oh, you don’t do the coffee.
Sonia: I don’t. I don’t.
Kathy: I think once you… I’ve given it up at points. I think once you get used to it, you can totally do it.
Sonia: For sure you could.
[27:06]
Kathy: But the coffee is such a joy of Italy for me. I…
Sonia: My husband is one that he will drink coffee and go straight to bed. It doesn’t affect him.
Kathy: Oh, my father was that. He’d have an espresso and he’d go to bed an hour later. And I was how do you do that?
Sonia: No, my husband does that quite often. I will make coffee for him, he’ll have, he’ll drink it here after dinner and then it’s five minutes later he’s “All right, I’m going to bed now.” Okay. See ya later.
Kathy: What has been the hardest part? I mean, you could kind of make it twofold. I don’t know if it’s directly about Torino, but maybe about moving your life to another country. Is there something hard?
Sonia: The hardest part for me personally was not having the support system that I was used to. That was the biggest thing. When once I had children, that was the hardest part. I said, my mother-in-law helped so much when she was here. So I did have her. But someone, sometimes you just need your mom. You need your family. To help and to do things the way you do it. And there’s things culturally the way you do things versus how things are done here. And so that was very difficult. I think the second thing probably was just the fact that knowing that I had to move here, I didn’t know the language, I didn’t have a job, I didn’t have any friends and that I had to start from zero. And so it was either I either do it and push through it and come out on the other side, or I try and then go back home saying I gave up or, you guys were right. Because I’m pretty sure there was somebody back home saying, “That’s not going to work out.” Especially when you have people who get married so quickly.
Kathy: I know, everybody talks. They love to judge. Just people to talk. But it’s funny, I feel the marriages that I’ve seen… my parents met, engaged and married in six months. Were very happy. Normally happy. I’m sure they fought, but the ones… it’s often the ones where I feel they knew that I see really last. I don’t know, just a theory. I think it’s also if you’re into the mystical or metaphysical, if that’s your soulmate, that’s your soulmate. You’re kind of meant to be.How many years do you feel it kind of took you to really integrate, if it did take that long?
[29:42]
Sonia: With my community here and feeling comfortable, I would say about seven, eight years. And that was just roughly around the time where my oldest started going into elementary school.
Kathy: Right, and then you really feel you’re part of the…
Sonia: And then exactly, I started feeling a little bit more comfortable. Language-wise, we’re talking 12 years. It took me a little bit longer with the language because I said, I didn’t study it ahead of time. Everything I learned, I learned it while I was in the hospital giving birth. Watching cartoons…
Kathy: You learned the vocabulary.
Sonia: I did. Watching cartoons with my kids and through the school. Having to do homework with them or having to communicate with teachers.
Kathy: Yeah.
Sonia: Or church. So that’s where all my language learning came from was just community and listening to people at the market and going, okay, how did they order that? Okay, I need to do the same.
Kathy: Yeah, that’s a lot of how I learn, is just immersion, going, mimicking. Exactly. Now, do you work?
Sonia: I do not. I’m still a stay-at-home wife. Stay-at-home mom.
Kathy: That’s the hardest job sometimes.
Sonia: It was a hard job. Also because my girls are so close in age. And so I had my oldest a year after I moved here.
Kathy: Oh, so pretty quickly.
Sonia: Yeah. So pretty quickly. And then two years another one and a year after that another one. So I was just…
Kathy: Oh, you have three.
Sonia: I have three. I have three. They are, they’re all girls. Currently 13, 14 and 16.
Kathy: Wow. Wow. And what are they into?
Sonia: They aren’t into much of anything, to be honest.
Kathy: Yeah. And is it, do you think they’re less grown up than 13, 14, 16? I mean, do they have phones?
[31:39]
Sonia: They do. Oh, they’ve had phones. They have phones. The thing that my husband teases me most about is that they have such a social life here that I could only dream of at their age. my 14-year-old is currently at the park or at McDonald’s. I’m not really sure where she’s at right now with her friends. Who knows what she’s doing? I don’t know. My oldest is doing homework and my youngest is on her phone right now talking to a friend. But they literally have their own life and she’ll come home and say, “I’m going to go to the park with my friend, I’m going to go here, then we’re going to go here.” And my husband just says, “I’m sorry your childhood was so traumatic that you weren’t allowed to do these things.” Because in the States, there’s no way that you could let a teenage girl walk around the streets with her friends just to hang out at the park. You couldn’t do that then, you couldn’t do that now.
Kathy: Right, right.
Sonia: And so that’s one of the things that I’ve actually been most grateful about is that life here isn’t as worrisome as it is back home.
Kathy: So safety, safety is a big…
Sonia: The safety is huge. And of course again, my school experience, which I graduated high school 30 years ago. So my school experience is nothing my girls are experiencing now. Or what my niece is experiencing now that she’s graduating high school. So our worlds are completely different. But it’s so nice knowing that I can send my daughter to the tabaccheria to buy bus tickets that she needs for tomorrow, by herself. And I don’t have to worry about her. My other one can ride the bus, the city bus to school. I don’t have to worry about her. The other ones can walk to school. I don’t have to worry about that. I used to take my girls when they were in elementary school to the playground in the summertime. Every night after dinner. Until midnight or 1:00 in the morning. And there would be families, parents, adults…
Kathy: That’s very Italian. Because it’s cooler too.
Sonia: Much cooler. It’s cooler.
[34:01]
Kathy: So you’re people are out late in Italy.
Sonia: Yes. Gelateria closes at midnight. You know? But at the playground. Everyone’s out there until midnight, 1:00 in the morning. And it’s normal. That’s what life is. And so that’s one of the things I’ve been so grateful about is just they actually get to have fun. They get to live, they get to be outside and play and I get to enjoy it too. It’s great. Yeah.
Kathy: Do you guys… when you in August, where do you guys go?
Sonia: We usually go to Bellaria, which is north of Rimini.
Kathy: Oh nice.
Sonia: That is… Everyone told me before we went there, they were that’s where all the families go. if you have small kids…
Kathy: From Torino?
Sonia: pretty much anyone. All the Italians know it because that is the area of Italy, where the Adriatic Sea, where the beaches are sand.
Kathy: Yes. That’s why I like it.
Sonia: Sandy beaches. You can walk in the water for I don’t know how many meters and that water will never go past your knee at some point. So there isn’t that much of a… I don’t want to say there isn’t a risk, there’s always a risk.
Kathy: Right, the tide or rip tide or something.
Sonia: Yes, there’s always tides and everything. But the fact that you can walk and walk and walk out into the water, into the ocean, and the water is still at your knee, sometimes even your thigh, you have to go pretty far before you get to shoulder level. So it’s nice. The food is amazing because it’s Emilia Romagna.
Kathy: Yes.
Sonia: So you’re going to eat good. But up and down that coast where Rimini is, you have all the all-inclusive hotels. So they include your room, your food, your umbrella, your chairs. You pay a fixed rate and all you have to do is just sit there and do nothing.
Kathy: And then at night they have the entertainment.
Sonia: At night entertainment, you go into the… the hotel either offers the entertainment for the kids, for you, or you walk around in the city and eat some more.
[36:12]
Kathy: I do think August can be really dreamy in Italy. If you do it the Italians do. If you go to one of these all-inclusive… And if you don’t mind being together. I mean that’s Italy, you’re on top of each other.
Sonia: Yes. You make friends with the people in the chairs next to you.
Kathy: Yes.
Sonia: So if you’re in a smaller hotel we usually go to, ours is family-friendly, family-owned and run business. So you just meet people that are there. And the next year sometimes they’re back. And then a year after that they’re back again.
Kathy: I love that.
Sonia: So you make friends with other people who are from different parts of Italy. And so it’s nice. It’s we call it our second home because we’ve gone there so often and it’s the same people. And so it’s nice to have a home away from home where you can just relax and do literally nothing. It’s really great.
Kathy: In the modern world that’s the dream. How many weeks do you go for?
Sonia: Just one. Because we’ve learned that if you do more than a week, it’s really exhausting. It’s exhausting doing nothing but eating.
Kathy: Yeah, and then you get sunburn.
Sonia: I would. Yes. I go under the umbrella, I cover myself and I’m okay, I don’t want the sun touching me. So I do it. I just have to be careful.
Kathy: I do getting that sun. So then the rest of August do you just kind of is it kind of you chill a little bit at home because are people doing much in August?
[37:44]
Sonia: I mean it just depends on when they go on their vacation.
Kathy: Right.
Sonia: My husband, his company does shut down the two weeks of August.
Kathy: Two weeks.
Sonia: So he’s also got the two weeks. We try to go up into the mountains, into the lakes when the girls were younger. We would do that. We would take day trips and it was fun and everything. Now that they’re older, they’re just I don’t want to do anything.
Kathy: Right.
Sonia: I don’t want to go anywhere. Everything’s so boring.
Kathy: Oh my god, and you got three of them at that age.
Sonia: So yes, a teenage age. So it’s a little bit difficult.
Kathy: But any, after that, I only know this, I don’t have children but having been that age, then after that they become a lot… I mean my mother was my best friend.
Sonia: Yeah. And so we have to remind them okay, but there’s this here, this here, they’re fine. Then they end up having fun. So yes. Yes. But yeah, just during the rest of the time we try to keep busy, either we’ll try to take a day trip somewhere or we’ll go into the city centers as often as we can. Or sometimes we just take the time to make sure that their homework is done because they always have summer homework.
Kathy: Oh, they do.
Sonia: Oh, yes.
Kathy: Is it reading books or is it…
Sonia: Also mostly reading but also math exercises, a lot of math exercises.
Kathy: And how long is their summer break? How long are they off?
Sonia: Three months.
Kathy: Oh, it’s long.
[39:04]
Sonia: Three full months. Their last day of school is June 10th and our calendar just went out, the first day of school is September 14th.
Kathy: Wow, that’s a long summer.
Sonia: It’s a long summer.
Kathy: A little bit longer than what we had. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s interesting they kind of keep them.
Sonia: Yeah, so they’ll have homework they’ll have to do throughout the summer to keep them busy.
Kathy: Do kids work in the summer? Do anything we used to, I mean I used to babysit and do or do teenagers have jobs or not really?
Sonia: Well it depends on the age of the kids. I know around 16 they can start working. A lot of the kids that I know from here in the neighborhood, they do the summer camps. So they’ll volunteer to do summer camps either with the local church or with an association. So they’ll stay with the kids, they’ll go to the park, they’ll take them on trips and things that. So they’re animatori is what they are. And so they do that.
Kathy: And do you ever meet other expats or is your world more Italian?
Sonia: My world is very Italian, but every once in a while I will meet a few expats. And if they come through, hopefully they come through generically, because that’s what I prefer. I don’t seek them out. But I have met people through my blog that I started years ago.
[40:32]
Kathy: And what’s the name of your blog?
Sonia: So it’s Texas Mom in Torino. I have not written it in so long because I mean after COVID everything kind of went downhill.
Kathy: Yeah.
Sonia: But I started it in 2008 to document my life and it just kind of became my journal of life here. And then Instagram started becoming more popular. And then we got on TikTok during the lockdown. So I’m just kind of all over the place now. But I have met people through my blog and through Instagram and through TikTok and anyone…
Kathy: That could be really cool. I have to, I’ve met you.
Sonia: Exactly. It is a lot of fun because I get to meet them and if usually they come through my feed and they’re relatively new. And if when they are, I to meet with them immediately. Just to see how they’re doing. If they’re okay.
Kathy: Yes.
Sonia: If they need anything.
Kathy: Oh, yeah, because you remember.
Sonia: I could be, exactly. I was there. And I had someone do that for me, my first month. So I just to pay it forward.
Kathy: I love that.
Sonia: I like to do that and just make sure that, hey, are you okay? Do you need anything? Do you know where to find things?
Kathy: Right. Right. Well wonderful. Well thank you so much for joining me. We’ll put some of your ideas and links, there’ll be show notes at dreamofitaly.com/podcast.
Sonia: Okay, thank you so much for having me. It was quite nice to finally meet you.