Friday, November 22, 2013

Torna a Surriento (Return 2 Sorrento): Thanksgiving in Italia

My little dog Lucca is not pleased. She watched the suitcases emerge from storage this morning and rightly surmised that our departure is imminent.When I told her that we were going back to Italy, this time to Naples, she demanded a belly rub. I think that's a fitting response, don't you? Going to Italy makes me feel like a belly rub is about to materialize, too.



Thirty years ago on my first trip to Italy with my mother, we went to the Amalfi coast. Sorrento was our base for a couple of days' sightseeing in Pompeii and Capri. At night we strolled the streets during the passeggiata, eating gelato and marveling at the many street musicians playing Neapolitan songs which made you want to simultaneously cry and laugh. The songs grabbed my heart despite not understanding more than a word here or there, especially Torna a Surriento. That song squeezes my heart hard, a little like what the Trevi Fountain in Rome does to me. "How can you abandon this place of love?"

Sorrento derives its name from the ancient mythological sirens calling seafarers to their everlasting fate:

"Look! How lovely the sea!
The fragrance of orange blossoms fills the air.
Sea maidens encircle, enchant, watch, and wish to kiss you.
And yet you say, 'Farewell, I leave?'
But can you abandon this place of love?
Don't go! Don't torment me!
Return to Sorrento so that I won't die!"

So, thirty years on, I'm going back. It's my fate.

Ciao!


1 comment:

  1. Have a lovely time and happy Thanksgiving for Thursday!
    p.s. Super cute dog

    ReplyDelete