What do I love about living in Italy – Jennifer Avventura

The next expat in my blogging series is Jennifer Avventura who writes the lovely blog My Sardinian Life – La Mia Vita Sarda.

I will hand you straight over to Jennifer:

I was tickled pink that Cathy from An Italophile emailed me to take part in her popular expat series featuring expats, who now call Italy home.

She wrote with just one question:

What do you love about living in Italy?

I’ve lived in Sardinia, Italy for four years and my love affair for the ‘sweet life in Sardinia’ grows each day. I have to remind myself constantly, that this island in the Mediterranean is not a nation unto her own, although, honestly, at times it feels like she is.

Like life elsewhere in the world there are pros and cons to life, and living in Italy is no exception. I’m not here to talk about the cons … I’m here to tell you about my top 5 things I love about Italy.

Top 5 Things I Love About Living in Italy

By Jennifer Avventura

1. The sun shines on average 300 days a year (in Sardinia)! I come from a place where the sun doesn’t shine for months, a place with winters so barren and cold that you forget the sun even exists! From an early age I developed a taste for hot warm climates and ventured all over the world in search of those golden rays.
2. Summer lasts for six, sometimes eight months a year! In Canada it’s winter that lasts for these long months! I need the sun, I crave the sun and living in Italy has given me the glorious opportunity to bask in the sun for most of the year.
3. The Food. It’s been said before and I’m going to say it again – Italian food is the best, no, it’s the bee’s knees, buonissimo!  The locally grown produce is out of this world! The fruit and vegetables taste how they should taste. Centuries of recipes have been handed down, generation after generation, leaving a lasting impression on your palate. Italy is a place where Nutella is a daily occurrence, not just a treat. It doesn’t get better than that!
4. The landscape. From the rolling waves that crash on the 1849km of Sardinian coastline to the stunning inlets, bays, beaches, mountain tops and crevices. Italy will leave you breathless; without words. It’s historically and culturally captivating.
5. There is SO much fun to be had! The list is endless: kayaking, rock-climbing, surfing, horseback riding, sailing, skiing, hiking, cycling, windsurfing, diving … Italy is an adventure seeker’s paradise! But that’s not all: history walks in Rome, shopping in Milan, gondola rides in Venice, famous art galleries, rural farm stays in central Sardinia and really so much more!

I love and miss my home and native land (Canada) but have always felt a pull to go, live and explore overseas. I remember grade 6 geography class; the teacher referring to Italy as the boot and knowing at some point in my life I would live there, in the boot. It’s strange to think back to the small me at the uncomfortable wooden desk and believing that a moment like that could exist, albeit thirty years into my future.

Believe in dreams. Just do it.

Want to know more about Jennifer Avventura? Follow her here:

Blog: My Sardinian Life | La Mia Vita Sarda

Facebook: My Sardinian Life

Twitter: @JennyAvventura