On October 9 I made it to Italy! I flew into Venice and took the train to a small village about an hour north called Latisana. Here, I was met by my host family’s oldest son, Francesco.
Well, it wasn’t until that evening, after asking multiple times and ways, that I began to understand that his family was not here and would not be living at the house with us… so it was me, Francesco, and the family dog Birba in the big yellow house on the orchard. The rest of the family lives in Trento, about 3 hours northwest, and the orchard house is their summer home.
So, this was not going to be the family experience that I’d expected and wanted out of Workaway. Though Francesco was accomodating, that first night was a bit strange, awkward, and quiet. It was then that I found myself surprised to be missing my incessantly chatty, laid-back family in Ireland and realized how easy it had been to feel at home with them.
Latisana and the life on the orchard
I spent about two and a half weeks in Latisana, with a couple of excursions in between (following). Though it wasn’t a completely perfect fit, I found my way in a nice routine quite quickly. My typical day included the all-sugar Italian breakfast followed by apple harvesting from 7:30-12. Then, enough pizza or pasta for lunch to feed an entire family [living with and being fed by Francesco felt a bit like being taken car of by a 12 year old]. After this I was free for the rest of the day. Since Francesco was one of two people working on the orchard (there were a dozen or so locals who work on the orchard year-round) who spoke English and the town of Latisana is quite small, these afternoons were sometimes a bit more lonely than I would have liked, but I usually spent them going for runs (though on flat paved roads, which is not my favorite terrain) or biking to Lignano to swim in the Adriatic Sea!
And of course, the best part: EATING APPLES! I ate at least 3 apples a day on average. And they were truly the best apples I’ve ever had; that coming from the land of Honey Crisps! At this time, we were harvesting mostly Fuji apples, which I’ve found to be the perfect combination of sweet, crisp & crunchy, juicy, sweet, and just slightly tangy. After every run I went on, I’d walk through the orchard on my way home until I found the biggest, most perfect looking apple I could find, and carried it home like a prize.
I really enjoyed harvesting the apples, and this was definitely my favorite part of my time in Latisana. Although I didn’t learn as much about horticulture as I’d hoped, as the father was not at the orchard with us [but if you’re interested, he’s quite renowned in his field and has invented improved crop strategies!], it was still exciting to experience and be a part of the harvesting process. We picked literal tons of apples each day, and each apple, even if very briefly, was inspected by hand and either laid gently in the crates of good apples or tossed into a scrap bin. The scrap bins would later be picked up by the lorry and taken to be turned into apple juice!
The weather was good and still quite warm so it was also nice to be outside all day, and whenever I got hungry, there were endless snacks literally right at my fingertips! I often harvested with the Francesco and the only other English-speaking worker, Daniele, who was born in Germany, lives in Italy, but enjoys traveling the world. Francesco and I got along fine but I found him to be a bit obnoxious and aloof (maybe he looks in the mirror too much..), so it was nice working with Daniele as we talked about traveling most of the time or listened to music.
On my last day in Latisana I got to go into the giant fruit freezer to load crates of pears! In the summer they grow these, as well as peaches, apricots, and plums and store some of these as incredibly delicious jam. The family is also very excited about their new ‘tattooed’ apples! I spent a few hours working on these as well; can you guess how they’re made?
Trento
I loved Trento!
Francesco and I drove to his family home in Trento twice while I was there. If the orchard had been in Trento, it would have been about perfect. I finally got to spend time with the family, the city is bigger and quite beautiful, and it is in the mountains! I was absolutely stunned by the city itself, as it is everything you would hope to imagine of the historic and beautiful romanesque architecture, from the cobblestone streets to the brick buildings filled with cheese and salami!
While in Trento, I got to experience my first big Italian family meal, with grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and courses and courses of food—homemade pesto pasta, risotto, prosciutto, cheese, salad, tomatoes, etc.—followed by coffee and cake all around.
I really liked Francesco’s parents Alberto and Chiara, as well as his three younger brothers Fabio (22), Gabriele (18), and Lorenzo (11; my favorite). The whole family are very dedicated tennis players! Which made me think of Bapa and how he’s shared his love for and knowledge of tennis with our whole family. It was fun to go with them to watch their matches and even some semi-pro tournaments, at which I took pride in following the game and keeping score in my head as all the announcements were made in Italian.
Limone sul Garda//LimoneXtreme
One weekend in Latisana I took advantage of European public transportation to make my way to Limone sul Garda for a 20K trail race! I got fellow Bowdoin skier Noah, who is studying abroad in Bologna, to meet me there as well. This weekend was incredibly refreshing to be with a familiar friend running in the mountains. While trying new things, adjusting to different lifestyles, and learning to find comfort in discomfort have all been goals for this year, this is what I really love to do. And despite having sub-optimal running for the past few weeks, I felt really good during the race, ended up in 6th for women, and even beat Noah!
Race highlights:
- Croissants for breakfast: a never-before had pre-race meal!
- Following a fast dude down the rocky descent, feet flying with no room for error. When I began to fall back he turned around and said “come on” with a smile, and off we went!
- Trading hugs and congratulations the finish my above friend and one of the women I ran with. Meeting and making finish line friends has always been one of my favorite parts of races.
- Swimming in the lake in the rain as racers ran the final 100 meters past us towards the finish line!
- FINISH FEAST! Always race in Italy. They feed you tortellini, prosciutto, chocolate, grapes, pizza, and so much more.
The towns of Limone and Campione, where our hostel was, were also quite idyllic! I can only imagine the tourism there in the summer, but on our late October day it was perfect. We ran through the narrow cobblestone streets up into the mountains overlooking one of the largest lakes in Europe.
Venezia
Well when you’re an hour’s train ride from Venice, you go to Venice. It is of course a beautiful and unique city that has been completely taken over by tourism. I truly cannot imagine what it looks like in the summer; how can any more tourists possibly fit!?? But I arrived early enough and wandered around for long enough that I found my way to the little back alleys far enough from Piazza San Marco (St. mark’s Square) to be rid of the hordes of people.
I walked for nearly 10 hours that day and found about every bridge and alleyway in Venice (even taking a few selfies to fit in with the crowds). For a city built on the water I thought it was much bigger than I expected!
Finally, I had my first Italian gelato and learned that I have in fact never eaten gelato before in my life. In the evening I treated myself to a glass of wine on the water and decided that mom is the one person I would want to spend another day in Venice with. While I was happy to have gone, city tourism is not my favorite way to experience a new country anyways, and by the end of the day I felt it to be a bit more of a reminder that I am traveling alone. But, it is something I never thought I would do and is all part of the experience! Already I am excited by what it has taught me.
Verona
On my way from Limone back to Latisana I stopped in Verona for a couple of hours. As the city of love and Romeo & Juliet.. well I found it to not be everything you’ve dreamed of. I was surprised at how big the city was, and though still beautiful, I was overall rather unimpressed. So much for fair Verona.
Next..
On October 28 I took the train from Trento to meet my next family in Torino (Turin) in the Piemonte region!
ELLIE 2019 
Proud to be your parent
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