Some time ago, a friend asked me which is my hometown. It is a difficult question for me, since I understand the word hometown as the place in the world where I feel most at home. I never stayed long in the same house, nor in the same city. And there is something I like in every place I lived, but I haven’t found the perfect town, and maybe I never will. Therefore, until today, I couldn’t give my friend a definitive answer.

Now that I am here, I know my hometown is Lavinio, the place where I spent at least part of every summer since I was born. It is a nice little seaside resort, 60 km south of Rome. In the end of the sixties, my father started to build a house there, where Lavinio was little more than a pine forest. The house was never completely finished, and this uncompleteness is part of the charm.

House in Lavinio

Meanwhile, the town is so crowded during the summer period that it difficult to move around, but I still like it in spite of the chaos. I stopped counting the number of parties I organised here, not only during the summer. We even had a new year’s party some years ago, and I can guarantee you it was very cold. Anyway, many people came and it was a big success.

Lavinio 2

My old room is now often “occupied” by my three nephews during the summer, but I keep coming nevertheless. This time I could regain possession of my room, and that’s where I’m writing you from.

Lavinio 3

This picture shows you the rest of the garden, where you can see all necessary things for fabulous meals (rosemary, thyme, tomatoes, aubergines…). There are even some olive trees, but they are not very productive anymore.

Lavinio 4

The sea is at less than one kilometer, and the weather is fantastic right now: temperatures around 30 degrees, a light breeze and clear, blue skies.

As I can never get enough of travelling, tomorrow I will head for Puglia, in southern Italy, where I organised a motorcycle tour with some friends. Ok, to be honest, we haven’t organised that much. It will be a very wild holiday… I will give you a report as soon as I am back.

Until then… take care, my friends!