Aaron and Erika are not the only people I’ve been sharing a room with here in Trastevere. There’s a Venezuelan guy called David, and an Italian called Davide. I was having a good chat with them last night. Davide especially, who really opened up to me about how he’s moved to Trastevere and got a job just to try and get his girl back. He’s in love with her, but she left him because he messed up and cheated.
Anyway, today I got talking with him some more, and it turns out he’s really love-sick. His whole life revolves around this girl and the idea of getting her back. I can’t relate to love that powerful. Davide seemed like an interesting guy, and I suddenly had this idea that I wanted to interview him, ask him some questions about where he’s from, the places he’s been to and what he thinks of Italy. He was happy to oblige me.
Delighted, but also feeling awkward and a bit nervous, I sat down at the desk in our dorm and opened my laptop. I asked Davide questions about what he thinks of Rome, and what his favourite places are. The following is a transcript of the interview.
Interview with Davide, 23.
Q1. How long have you been living in Rome?
A. 7 days. Been here 3 times before.
Q2. What is your favourite thing about Rome? It can be a place, a thing or a fact.
A. You’re walking through history. You’re stepping on ancient Rome. It’s awesome.
Q3. How would you say Rome compares to your home city, Mantua?
A. People are very welcoming compared to Mantua. People in the North are more closed, more introverted. Mantua is smaller. Only about 50,000 people. Everybody knows everything about everyone and they judge you. That’s the thing about small towns. They are not very open-minded.
Q4. Do you feel like you’ve been judged?
A. No, because I feel like my friends don’t do that. But I know that I have done that in the past.
Q5. What do you dislike about Rome? You can name as many things.
A. Traffic. There are so many people when you visit Rome. The Colosseo and the Vatican. It’s so crowded. Public transport is not so organised. The bus is always late.
Q6. If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?
A. If it was as an escape, then a little town in the Alps. For the peace and the weather. The snow. I don’t know how to ski. But I like the snow.
Q7. And if you had to live somewhere forever, where would you choose?
A. It’s a great question. I didn’t travel a lot. I’d say Rome I think, as of now. I like it a lot.
Q8. What is your favourite place in Italy?
A. Florence. It’s beautiful. It’s big but it’s not too big. You can walk from one place to the other. It’s chilled I’d say. Also, Venice.
Q9. Which places have an emotional connection to you?
A. I have a couple.
-There is a place near Verona. There is a vinyetto (vineyard) where you can spend the summer evenings sipping wine and listening to music. It’s called Luci in Vigna.
-Paro – the Greek island. It was like a dream, you know. And because of the person I went with. It was something special to me and I fell in love with it. Just traveling with a moped and going to beaches.
Q10. What is your favourite food?
A. Risotto con I funghi. Rice with mushrooms
You cook the mushrooms in a pan and the cream it creates you put it on top of the dish. It’s very creamy if you know how to do it. It’s got to be like Riso Carnaroli. The starch of the rice creates the cream.
Q11. What food do you want to try that you’ve never had before?
A. Christmas pudding from Britain. And a nice ramen. A veggie ramen.
Q12. You have one line of Italian to teach a tourist, what is it? What line of Italian would you want a foreigner to know?
A. “Chi semina vento raccoglie tempesta”
“Who sows wind picks up the storm.”
It’s almost like carpe diem, and I think when you know what it means, you can tell it’s the truth.
After the interview we talked a little more before I headed out to get a look at the ruins of the Circus Maximus. It may not be as grand as the Colosseum, but it’s blessed with a beautiful lack of tourists.
Hunger suddenly struck my stomach like a sledgehammer. I hurried back to Hostel Trastevere, buying a bag of tortellini on the way. I cooked the tortellini in the kitchen before mixing it up with some tomato sauce. A very basic dinner, and a very reserved portion – not something I can usually contemplate with pasta. But I’m not at home, I’m in the big wide world and I need to eat and spend sensibly – and a consequence of that is simply that I must starve myself. Praying that my stomach makes it through the night. I’ve got a long way to go…
