JandaO

Anyone else have a spot in Italia, where solely hearing its name, can pull at your heartstrings?
Venice has touched my soul. I feel a magnetic force pulling me back again and again. When I arrive,I feel as though I have come home.

SHADRACH

I thought I was the only one who had to go to the psychiatrist to check if something was wrong with me for thinking so insanely.

The same happens to me JandaO!

Twice I have been to Venice, and twice I've felt as if the city said: "Welcome home. What took you so long to come back?".

I am going this year again for the third time, and even though I'm planning on visiting some other places in Italy, Venice is the part of my itinerary that I am most looking forward to visit.

Wherever I travel, and even if I like the place, I feel like a stranger, like a visitor who's supposed to be there for a couple of days but that doesn't really belong there. However, with Venice is totally the opposite. I even feel I don't need a map because who needs a map for his hometown?

ira

I feel that way about Paris.

Intrepid1

JandaO: I can deeply appreciate your feelings and I also appreciate the fact that you recognize that not everyone shares your feelings and that you don't recommend that everyone else spend a week there no matter what their travel question is.

RufusTFirefly

I don't think a week is absolutely necessary. 6 days should suffice for most people.

tcreath

I have similar attachments to Rome

Tracy

Margaretlb

Like Ira, my DH and I feel that way about Paris-DH gives me the Paris weather report everynight. However, in the last two years I've visited Venice twice and now it calls to me too! One city or the other is always haunting my (day)dreams. I just returned from two weeks in Paris and won't return until next year yet I'm still reading exhibit openings, etc. as if I'm planning to be there this summer I had a solo trip to Venice in the planning for November but changed plans to go to Rome with my sister for her 50th in October (she wasn't interested in Venice - imagine!)and, although I'm studying up on Rome, I'm actually somewhat depressed about my change in plans.

grsing

Venice does that to me, too, as well as (though not in Italy) Berlin, though in very different ways, obviously.

sandi_travelnut

I actually get butterflies and feel giddy when talking or thinking about Rome and Paris.

Statia

Although I love many cities, my emotional attachments are with magical Venezia, too. I was recently looking at some photos of our last trip (along with some beautiful Italian musical accompaniment) and thought my heart might just leap out of my chest. (sigh) And, I've been to Rome since that trip, too.

It's a good thing we all have an affection for different cities. Could you imagine the crowds if we all loved the same one?

Sea_Marks

For me, it's Paris, as with Ira and Margaretlb. But, I have to say, I hadn't been to Venice in years and we had one day and night there in November after staying in the Veneto and I fell in love with the city again and started to plan when we could go back and just spend a week wandering Venice. Then, out of the blue, a friend of my husband asks us if we would like to stay with him in Venice in a two bedroom apartment he has for a week in June. I think this is Venetian karma and, of course, immediately booked our tickets and have been dreaming of Venice since!

jkstrouse

For me it's Florence. Years ago, during a college vacation, I spent 5 nights "stranded" there before moving on to Rome, and ever since it's been special to me. I've been back to Italy three times since then and have spent at least a night in Florence every time. Something about that city just gets me.

P_M

I just returned 3 weeks ago from Madeira (a Portugese island, for anyone unfamiliar) and I am still feeling sad. I don't know why I got so attached to that island in only 5 days, but I want to go back so bad it hurts.

laclaire

Not Italia, but Barcelona just kills me. Seeing other people's pictures from there, or movies filmed there makes me cry.

Barcelona is my only place like that. However, I there are people that make me feel like that. . . just thinking about them and knowing that I am not with them at that minute physically hurts. So, Marni, Andrew, Zarmik, Paco, Emma, Helena, Manu and Eloisa. . . good job for being the most amazing friends a girl could have.

mcnyc

3 cities in Italy pull at my heartstrings, in this order: Florence, Venice, Rome. The 3 cities often vie to be #1 in my heart.

Europe as a whole has a strong magnetic pull on me. I look for any and all excuses to go back.