There’s a special energy that awakens in Italy with the arrival of summer. It’s not just the sun growing more intense or the days stretching longer; it’s something deeper, almost a collective ritual that binds us to our roots. For those, like me, born in the ’80s, Italian summer isn’t just a season, but a true chapter in life’s book, written with vibrant colors and salty scents.
I remember those endless summers, when cars would be packed to the brim, and we’d set off for Liguria or Emilia Romagna. The highway traffic, the windows rolled down, and the air charged with anticipation. And then, finally, the arrival.
Colorful Umbrellas and the Magic of Small Things
The beaches were an explosion of joy. Thousands of colorful umbrellas opened like giant flowers on the sand, each a small temporary kingdom. There was no need to book sunbeds or luxurious cabins; a towel, an umbrella (often inherited for generations), and off we went, the day would begin. We kids, especially us boys, had an obsession: digging the biggest, deepest hole. A titanic undertaking, lasting hours, an open-air construction site where the rules were our own and the engineering, well, it was pure fantasy.
But it wasn’t just a game. It was a representation of something bigger. It was Italian ingenuity applied to the joy of living. We were masters in the art of making do with style and passion. How many times have I seen entire families arrive at public beaches with giant thermoses, checkered blankets, and grandma’s lunch wrapped in cloths, with intoxicating smells of frittatas and parmigianas mingling with the sea salt. And the watermelon? Invariably tied with a rope and placed in the sea to keep cool, a natural, ecological, and infallible refrigerator.
Why the Sea Is a Love That Lasts
This visceral attachment of Italians to the sea and the summer period isn’t just a tourist quirk. It’s a matter of identity, almost genetic. Italy is surrounded by the sea; its history is tied to the sea; its coastal cities have millennial histories of trade and cultures.
The sea for us is not just a vacation spot, but a stage for life, a meeting place, a rediscovered slowness. It’s where families reunite, where friendships are cemented between a swim and a game of rackets. It’s the place where rhythms expand, stress melts away, and that authentic simplicity that makes us unique is found again. The sun on the skin, the smell of sunscreen mixed with that of coffee from the kiosk, the distant sound of children’s voices playing: these are sensations that become memories etched in the soul, accompanying us all year.
It’s the romanticism of a country that still knows how to value small joys, conviviality, the art of savoring the present moment. It’s the essence of Italianness: a mix of natural beauty, human warmth, and an innate ability to transform the everyday into a rich and meaningful experience.
With Italianbackroads, we want you, our “Backroaders,” to immerse yourselves in this true Italian summer. Far from the crowds, but always at the heart of authentic emotions, with the care and precision that distinguishes us. Because summer, in Italy, is a feeling that must be lived
