lvitaly

I came home from my vacation still saying "Grazie", Si and whatever else i managed to pick up. I came home wanting Cappucino and a sweetroll every morning. I have settled for a couple of Biscotti's.( how boring!) I am in search of a great roadside gas station with a coffeebar and Panini selection. Sandwiches are not the same.I am eating dinner at my usual 6pm.dinner hour. I secretly want to walk out the house and go to an outdoor restaurant at 9pm and have a dish of pasta or pizza.It just does'nt exist around my area!A Gelato after a meal??? Where??? Icecream is just not the same. The real kicker yesterday was crossing a busy street in our downtown area and crossing the street like i owned it. A crosswalk- what a concept. Did not want to use it. It's hopeless, i am helpless and noboby will have any sympathy or understanding for me.All i can do it wait it out, three more years. I found the perfect excuse, our 10 year anniversary. Anybody else seem to have this strange feeling when they come home?????

Degas

Don't settle for boredom. The secret is learning how to put yourself in a position of not having to wait. Most people can find ways to save money, but they don't look hard enough or are always going to start later. Pretty soon "later" comes around and they are still sitting in front of the TV at home. If there is enough desire and will, some way will be found to travel.

Matrexx

I'm totaly with you lvitaly. I felt like a totally changed purson after my trip to Italy, still do when I go into day dream mode. All I can think about is going back. I'm trying to preserve the things I loved best while there here at home. I"m going to get an espresso machine for Christmas and have found a good bakery that makes amazing chocolate croissants. Not exactly brioche, but with an espresso they are passable.

All I want to do is go back. I'm currently dreaming of moving to the UK and telecommuniting to work. A pipe dream, but maybe it will happen in the next 10 years after a few promotions!

Hang in there and just keep your memories alive!

Scullysioux

Ivitaly,
I know what you mean about the withdrawal, I felt the exact same way when I came back from Italy 7 mos. ago and I still do although it's dissipated a little now. I almost got run over by a bus at Logan Airport when I got back because I was still in "Italian" crossing the street mode. Rest assured you are not alone. Italy is such a wonderful place.

Statia

I've been back four months and STILL going thru withdrawals. I don't think the longing ever actually leaves you.

FainaAgain

Take a weekend trip to a city with Italian section in it. Where do you live?

Tries2PakLite

I too have Italy under my skin. We are going back in the early Spring and can hardly wait. There is just something about the place. If you are bitten by the bug, you are bitten for life. My husband keeps wondering when we will explore someplace else, but we are drawn back to Italy like moths to a flame.

I found this quote in an article and have saved it. It can be found on a plaque at Ca' Rezzonico, the 17th-century palace in Venice where Robert Browning died. He said "Open my heart and you will see/Graved inside of it, 'Italy.' "

Sort of says it all. I have been a fan since the first morning of my first trip. For breakfast, in a lovely hotel in Frascati, we were served brioches with Nutella. As a true chocoholic, it was all over right there. I knew right then that the Italians knew how to live, and I was a goner.

RufusTFirefly

You just live in the wrong town--we've got not only one but TWO places that make their own gelato in my little town--I am a hazelnut nut. And a pleasant downtown with an Italian restaurant and two pizzerias where one can dine outdoors. Lucky us!

elisabet

Condolences offered! I returned from a short, 10 day trip to Italy 18 months ago and still have pangs--despite a wonderful trip to France 3 months ago. I loved France, but Italy stole my heart!

jmb67

I know exactly how you feel. I got back about three weeks ago from my first trip to Italy. Italy stole my heart, its where I need to be. I am now starting to save for my next trip in spring.

lyb

I've been back since July 12th of this year and I still feel like something is missing. I live near San Francisco and I often think that the lyrics should be changed to "I left my heart in Italy".

I just find more and more books taking place in Italy, I watch movies set in Italy and my Italy pictures are all over my office and my home.

Though I'm going to London next fall, part of me really wants to go back to Venice, but I'm controlling myself and going somewhere new. However, the year after, Venice...Here I come!

Ciao4now

Try living there for 3 years then coming back. We couldn't eat in restaurants for over a year - it all tasted like chemical and plastic. Driving is extremely boring here too! We're dreaming of our next trip
BUT - If anyone lives anywhere near Pittsburgh, there's the Strip District and the Sunseri brothers run 2 stores there with EVERYTHING italian. You can wander for 2 hours, finding breads, cheezes meats, pastas, oils, vinegars, coffee beans, ingredients for tiramisu, Nutella, and bulk items of corn meal for polenta, etc. etc. etc. Afterwards you can go have a cappuccino at the coffee bar around the corner playing RAI UNO on their satellite TV with cornetto from the bakery next door or sfogliatelle from the other bakery. The biking club usually stops by en masse which is also reminiscent of Italy. And don't forget the biscotti factory next door too. There's an Italian ceramic shop there, and the PBS cooking show Lidia's Table has opened a restaurant there too. PGh's Strip on Saturday mornings is where I get my occasional Italy fix in between trips back (P.S. There's an independent film out The Bread My Sweet filmed there with Scott Bayo in it).

lvitaly

I just knew i was not the only one!! I also live near San Francisco and yes that song should be changed! My heart will always have a piece of it left in Italy. I have been to Italy 3 times in 13 years.I just need to make it happen more often Like someone has said.Once i get my spouse there in 3 years i hope he will be bitten by the bug. My ultimate dream is to rent an apartment in Rome or Tuscany for an entire month!!!The funny thing is- i do actually live in an area rich in Italian- Americans,( i am one also) have plenty of Italian restaurants around the area( just not out my front door and around the allyway!) but it is just not the same!!

dln

lvitaly, there are lots of us here. I said grazie for days after coming home from Italy!!! There was so much in Italy to say "grazie" for, wasn't there?

FainaAgain

LvItaly, did you go to that new italian shop on Mission, I think it's between 2nd and 3rd, on the right side going from Embarcadero to Yerba Buena? It may be more convenient for out-of-towners then North Beach. It's on the same block with the museum... now I'm having a senior moment, is it the SF history museum?

lvitaly

FainaAgain, no i have not been to any shops in S.F. lately.I am 2 hours away actually. I used the word close- but i am not that close!!! Actually, i might be going there in a few weeks. What kind of shop is it??
Dln- YES~ there is so much in Italy to say "Grazie" for

FainaAgain

Food and deli - italian.

On a second thought it was a year ago, and so many of the small places go out of business... don't go out of your way for it, better go to North Beach.

Grasshopper

Sign up for Italian classes at your nearby community college. Not only will you be involved in things Italian and discussions about Italy, you'll be more prepared for your next visit! And I second the suggestion to spend time in North Beach. After all, 2 hours is a lot better than 12 hours!

lyb

LvItaly,

You said you're about 2 hours away from SF, so am I. I'm in Sacramento, I don't know if that is where you live, but as much as I like living here, Sacraamento looked really boring and ugly after Italy.

Grasshopper, I like the idea of taking Italian classes, I do want to go back and I'd love to be able to communicate in Italian. And I think I just might have to go to North Beach real soon...I am getting a new digital camera soon, what a great place to try it out!

dln

I think language lessons are a good idea, too. There were so many Italian advertisements and graffiti that I wished I could read. Some of the graffiti looked really interesting!