Special guests Bo & Lee: The Italophiles who introduced us to Soriano

People always ask us how we found the town of Soriano nel Cimino, where we've lived since 2019. Well, the answer is: Our friends, Bo and Lee! They are our special guests on this podcast. This episode explains how Lee used a protractor to find Soriano in the first place, how she helped us “smuggle” artwork here. We also recount some of our favorite stories of this amazing little town. 

Italy is full of pizza, gelato, incredible sights, and architectural wonders, but the best things we have found here are friendships. 

Want to know more about us and our travel services? Find us at:

www.LittleRoadsEurope.com

www.facebook.com/LittleRoadsEurope

We craft small-town driving itineraries for travelers to Italy, Ireland and Scotland.

And our "alter-egos" as musicians:

www.OrsiniVirtuosi.it

Transcript

Note: This is not a complete transcript, but rather the show notes we write in advance to prepare for the episode.

Today we’re talking with our friends Bo and Lee, who inspired us to come to Soriano - 

- How Lee helped us smuggle artwork;

- How Lee used a protractor to discover Soriano 

- and how Bo’s medieval cosplay convinced us to move to Italy

[music cue 10 sec]

This is Matt Walker          …and I’m Zeneba Bowers - 

We’re recording while sitting on the terrace of our tiny home in Italy - so you’ll get a sense of the sounds of life in our little town. We want this to be more like a casual conversion with us, rather than a scripted studio session - complete with church bells, cats meowing, motor scooters and trains and …whatever else happens. 

“ … we’ll be talking with our friends today, about how we met, how we found Soriano, and how they helped us move here…  

[Music up 10 sec]

For those of you who don’t know us: We are professional musicians and also travel writers and consultants, living and working here in Italy for the past 6 years. 

If you want to learn more about us and our lives, you can find us on our website LittleRoadsEurope..com, on our socials, and now here on our new podcast, which we’re going to try to make you feel as if you’re sitting here chatting with us 

…and by the way: intro music - Matt arranged it, and we recorded it right here in our house! Since we’re musicians working here in Italy, we thought that would be a fun and sensible addition to our show.

So let’s get talking to our friends, Bo and Lee! 

How did we meet? 

Bo and Lee biographies

First dinner: foaming at the mouth about Soriano. We had already scheduled to do an article on affordable travel in Italy, so we decided to be based in Soriano. Got the apartment in the piazza for just over $300 for the week. 
Bo showed us a photo of himself in costume for the festival, and we knew it must be a nice place, still wanted tourists

—— How did you find Soriano? I remember something about a protractor 

We liked Soriano because it had 3 pharmacies, plenty of shops, easily walkable, a little harder to get to by public transportation, close to Rome, 

---- History of Bo and Lee getting apartments. What kind of places did you see? 

--- In February 2019 we took a chance and set up an appointment with Marco, had a translator. Decided to get our apartment because it was only €26K, thought it would be where we would base ourselves for our fifth book. And it was!! Just not the way we thought 
Decided to get a place that looked at the castle, wanted something with ground floor entrance, great because I broke 2 toes so far and probably ankle too 

Church bells, town's daily siren

— when we moved, Bo and Lee were at our final party, which was for 150+ people, but we had no furniture. Syrian food, wine boxes, gift table. But then Bo and Lee came back and helped us roll up paintings. Gave us a suitcase, because we came here with 5. 

— What does your time look like when you are in Soriano? Favorite things to do?

— Big Flood of 2021. “Casino” 

--- How many people do you think have come to Soriano because of you two? 

---- Plans for the future?