Just a normal cold, breezy day while I am listening to the Brat Album by Charli XCX in the metro, on my way to work and suddenly I fell into an oblivion of- what am I even doing? Does life feel real at this point? Am I having an existential crisis? Do I need retail therapy? Or do I just need to sit on the beach sipping aperol spritz? Seasonal depression is truly real.
With my Uggs swinging over the metro seat, my vintage Dolce cashmere scarf flowing over my shoulders and the buttoned up trench coat with my phone lost inside its pockets, I was desperately trying to find my phone to see how far is the summer?
Of course I like winters. Taking the Berina express from Milano to Switzerland, attending the ski festival and an obnoxious number of hot chocolates make it worth the while. But the way summer feels, nothing truly comes close.
As I was checking ETA in the Summer; Snapchat flashed me ‘From August 2024’ at the very moment. I went back to watching snaps from last year when I took a spontaneous summer trip across Italy.
It all started with the obsession of The Lizzie McGuire Movie. Of course I doubt which pop star in Italy would be of a brown household origin but I wanted to feed my delusions.
I packed my bags and said goodbye to Milano. Took a train to Rome. It was quite pretty, honestly nothing to actually do except having godly expensive pasta at the most tourist places and buying souvenirs. Oh wait, how can I forget? Throwing a coin in Trevi of course.
But my actual Italian summer started when I reached Naples. Napoli. One of the best places I have ever visited in Italy. By the time I reached Naples, I was already melting like a gelato.
‘oh i love summer!’, ‘can’t wait for the italian summer’, until it’s time to face the sharp, energy sucking sun rays. The whole day I’ve been bitching about everything the whole time. The heat, the humidity, the reapplication of sunscreen every 30 minutes; made me just want to go back home.
But then i realised this might be the only summer i could experience if I don’t die from the heatstroke already (lol?) The only thing which calmed me down were the pretty lanes of Sorrento, the cute lil souvenir shops selling everything lemony, and ofc people watching! While I was walking down the streets, I saw a really pretty mirror and said “stop being sorrenty for yourself, when life gives you lemons, go and have limoncello” (sorry I just can’t)
The minute I stepped into the water, I was dissolved. The cold splash, the sound of waves, the feel of sand between the toes and painful foot rubs by pebbles made it worth the trip.
Staring at the deep blue sea, getting shit on by the seagulls, having limoncello, walking around the town and getting lost in the lanes was absolutely a core memory.
From Milan, to Rome, to Naples and the southern coast, summer was BRAT.
Having the most delicious food, staying at cheap Airbnbs, the fear of missing the trains to get to another city because I physically cannot comprehend how google maps sometimes work? Oh wait, speaking of missing the trains, I think I missed my stop on the metro; we’ll see you next summer anyway!
Vera's Column 