I met Giuseppe when I came to Lecce on the Erasmus project way back in 1994, we married in 2003, started a family in 2004 and, three children later – having lived for a few years in a nearby town – we moved back to in Lecce in 2019. Our eldest daughter is now studying in Milan.
Giuseppe has kept his childhood friends, many of whom have moved back to the area after years of working up north, I now count them among my closest friends, but have also enlarged our social group so that it now includes many international components. I also help run a multicultural whatsapp group that keeps people up to date with what’s going on in the area as well as giving day-to-day advice on who to turn to for various issues and helps newcomers integrate into local life.
We love living here, of course not everything is perfect, the bureaucracy can drive you mad and some things just don’t work, others do, but we have plenty of coast to get away to, places we go back to, always new places to explore or rediscover after years, and lots of things going on.