Walking in Italy

By Claudio Ruggeri

"Walking in Italy" is a compelling narrative of a young man's journey through romantic awakening, heartbreak, and self-discovery. Steeped in truth, the story recounts the events of one unforgettable summer in Italy. The adventure begins in Rome where one chance encounter interwines hearts and lives forever. It brings the reader along the winding Amalfi Coast, across oceans, and back again. It is a story of love found, divided by continents, and lost in translation. It is a story that reveals how human connections can break hearts and ultimately heal them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Dec 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9781507120675

Claudio Ruggeri

Claudio Ruggeri, 30岁。出生于Grottaferrata (罗马)。现为从业人员，前裁判员。他遍游各地，在美国呆了很久，2007年回到意大利。写作是一直以来他的最大爱好。

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Index

Tuesday, July 27th 2010

Sunday 16th August 1992

Monday 17th of August

Tuesday 18th August

Wednesday 19th August

Thursday 20th August

27th July 2010 (evening)

Tuesday, July 27th 2010

I’ll start telling you this story not from the moment in which it began nor ended, but since the moment it’s been told me.

It was one of those Summer afternoons, and the heat was 35 degrees in the shade and nearly half the city was on vacation; I live  Grottaferrata, one of those towns that are usually described in leaflets as ‘delightful town of the Roman Castles’.

Life is flowing gently in tows like mine, where you can still find many people’s workshops and families leave on Sundays for day trips.

I don’t clearly remember why, as a chronic weariness fell on me and I was assaulted by a headache, something rare happening to me, probably the fact that in that particular lapse of time I wasn’t working and I just couldn’t understand the reason of that sudden dreariness  of feeling so run down, then I started to acknowledge facts and memories.

Halfway through the afternoon I realized that my cigarettes were running out, considering that in my neighborhood shops close at eight and it just wasn’t the right moment to lose too much time, so I changed my shirt and right away I got out of the house.

Usually,  when I’m in a rush I avoid going to the  Cafe Sport next to my home, It’s nothing to do with the guys at the bar, it’s only that normally people there sit for hours on the chairs outside in a kind of tribune-like round and it’s so easy so meet someone you know who offers you a coffee, asking you questions and involves you in debates... and then the whole situation makes you forget that at the same time you should have gone to the post office to pay off a couple of bills, and you’re in the Cafe, crossing your mind the thought of buying some bread for dinner...

My mother also knows by now, when I tell her that I’m going to the Cafe she really doesn’t wait for me for more than fifteen minutes, time remains indefinite.

When I got my cigarettes and ordered a coffee I soon spotted a copy of a rare newspaper you happen to find in those kind of Cafes.... ‘Corriere della Sera’, I was waiting for my coffee, so I sat down reading the news.

I didn’t get to the third page that I soon found out who owned the newspaper, he was an old friend of my dad, he was called Massimo and he was an Alitalia pilot who was enjoying some days on vacation finally at home.

‘Sorry, can I...’ pointing the chair, he had his own kind of way, a bit like Raimondo Vianello and Luca di Montezemolo, he could always make you smile.

‘Hi Massimo, good to see you...’ I replied.

‘I’m on vacation for a few days and...’

‘Well, aren’t you at the beach, the heat is high...’

‘Well, no...’ he said stubbornly, ‘When someone like me can spend some days on the sofa or at the bar, he sure is a lucky man...’

‘On the last flight...’ he went on, ‘It was a blow, I’m nearly 46 and I’m not that fit anymore to fly across the Ocean for 15 hours and then fly back just like that...a piece of cake...’

‘I see...’  even if it wasn’t very true all in all.

After some nice, gentle talk we started to talk about some matters a bit more engaging, the divorce just happened, the children that by now consider him a stranger and so on, in a few words all of those ‘side effects’ coming out as soon as  two people decide they can’t stand each other no more and they go their own way.

He asked about