Special Guest: Our Neighbor Natalie

We have a special guest with us today - Natalie Smargiassi, an Italian-American who moved to Italy a few years ago. She has a house in Gallese, a neighboring town of Soriano. 

We chat with Natalie about the path that led her to move to Italy, the things she did to get her house set up, and the interesting and fun things about her town and her region, from food to festivals to history to hiking.

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

SMARGIASSI podcast notes

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

INTRO: 

Welcome to Little Roads Unfiltered: Italy and Beyond

Today we have a special guest with us today - Natalie Smargiassi, she’s from the US but moved to Italy a few years ago. 

[music up then down to 20%]

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 the town’s daily siren, and maybe the occasional clink of our drinks. 

“ … we’ll be talking with our friend, in today’s chat - here on Little Roads Unfiltered: Italy and Beyond.”

[Music up then fade out]

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 do unedited, as if you’re sitting here chatting with us - 

…and by the way, we hope you like our 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 to chatting with Natalie - Welcome!

1. Tell us about your family connections to Gallese. (You will describe your familial connection, and then introduce the idea that you are living in a family home)

2. How does your upbringing as an “Italian American” differ from life here as an actual Italian citizen/resident?

3. What has it been like to renovate your home? Were there particular features you wanted to keep in place? How was it dealing with bureaucracy and contractors to get it done?

4. The table we are sitting at is one we bought from a second hand shop you told us about. Tell us a little about the furniture you have in your house; I remember that much of it is custom painted and really beautiful

5. What is it like to live in Gallese? It’s even smaller than Soriano. How do you fit into the social scene there? What is it like there?

6. You are very involved in various hiking groups in Italy and have traveled extensively on hiking trips. How did you find out about this type of travel and what are some of the experiences you have had? How can others who would like this type of travel find out more?

7. Any regrets you have about moving here? Any advice for people who want to follow in your footsteps?

OUTRO: 

I think that’s a good place to wrap it up here - we hope you enjoyed joining us for our chat with our neighbor Natalie!

We’ll be talking about a wide variety of topics here on this podcast, from travel tips to slice-of-life stories - we’ll post a new episode every Tuesday. 

So catch us next time - we’ll see you down the Little Roads… CIAO!