A reminder to ourselves: why we made the move to Italy
A simple question with a not-so-simple answer.
Obviously there was no single reason. We may not even know or fully understand the reasons even now but here are some perspectives.
Yes of course there was the lure of the Italian way, the beauty of this magnificent country and the temptation of all things gastronomic. For us however, it was much more than that.
Our individual and collective journeys led us to a 9 week sabbatical in 2017. We turned off our phones. We turned on our out of office messages. We didn’t read a single work e-mail. We decompressed for the first time since, well, forever. We spent about a month in Italy, doing a 'zigzag' across the country, from Napoli to Milano with various stops along the way, getting to know it, its people, its culture, its coffee (sorry Starbucks, you are not even in the race) and its cornetti (a type of Italian pastry). Fascinating and inspiring.
As cliched as it sounds, we came away with a new perspective on life in general and our lives in particular. Maybe it was just that the timing was right or maybe we were, in that period and in that mind space, ready to receive and listen to the messages that the universe was sending us. Maybe we just like Italian wine a lot!
At that point we had each survived and dare we say it, thrived as lawyers. There was no burning reason to make a change. Life was very comfortable and that way of living was a 'known commodity' - we could have quite easily continued with that life but we knew that, at some point, our life as lawyers in Dubai would come to an end. We could either wait to see what destiny had in store for us or we could give a destiny a nudge in our chosen direction. Whatever it was, after our sabbatical and our time in Italy we were ready to take risks, to explore, to create options. There was no timeline, no deadline but the game was well and truly afoot!
Just to be clear, the life of a corporate lawyer is never really “comfortable”. You have to be on your game and completely committed to the role. If not, you are not giving your clients what they deserve and you are probably (if you are being honest with yourself) not enjoying the life. If you are at 97% you are off your game…
We spent days discussing and debating, and many an evening pouring over books and articles on what constitutes 'a good life' - we are nothing if not analysis-driven. We felt that there was something missing. Being in Italy for an extended time forced us to stop and reflect on what the 'it' was.
It didn't take us long to figure out that the 'it' was being connected.
Connected to people, connected to nature and the environment, and living a different life.
That's not to say we didn't have connections in our previous life. The fact of the matter is that we wouldn't have been able to have this dream without living our previous lives. The connection we sought was however deeper. We wanted to be part of a community (in the true sense of the term), we wanted to build something, to produce more than words, to get our hands dirty, and we wanted to do all of that while being as close to nature as possible.
We believed we could find all that (and much more) in Italy. Of course, being suckers for a challenge and hugely goal-oriented, we decided to throw in starting a winery and agriturismo into the mix. So started the dream, and so started the planning. It is likely that one or both of us even spoke to the person reading this post about the dream and our slow (very slow) process of execution, so you would know what we went through in that part of our journey (thanks for listening by the way!).
It ultimately took us three years from the time we made the decision that this would be our 'next phase' to making the move here. During that time, we:
made frequent visits (about 4 times a year) to Italy, and in every season;
tested the Italian health system by having one of us contract pneumonia (clearly we were living in a pre-Covid world otherwise we would have been on-trend!);
poured over real estate websites and then visited around 80 properties of varying sizes and descriptions, between the Chianti and Montepulciano regions;
had several meetings with real estate agents, lawyers and commercialistas (a mix between an accountant, tax advisor, government specialist);
went on a course about living and working in Italy (featuring great food and wine…);
successfully completed the WSET level 2 course (not a very advanced certificate in wine, but a start nonetheless - and yes, one of us achieved a Merit in the course - we are not naming him as he prefers anonymity);
made a start on learning Italian; and
read several books written by expats on moving to Italy (our favourites were A Vineyard in Tuscany and Living in a Foreign Language).
While it was a good start, did it prepare us completely for life here?
Assolutamente N-O.
For now, we will end by saying that as far as we know (and have read), no one on their deathbed has ever said 'I should have spent more time working in the office'. What they have said is 'I wish I had...'
…and knowing this how could we not?
Four years on, how are we getting on?
Well, we will soon share the disasters and joys we have experienced over the last four years in another post, but we like to describe life (and each day) in Italy with the help of this graph:
One minute you're sipping your amazing espresso in your garden, while looking out at the centro storico (historic centre) of Montepulciano (happy emotion), the next minute you're struggling to understand why the post office in your town is as inefficient as it is (frustrated emotion), the third minute you are dealing with some crazy documentary requirement in order to get your Italian identity card renewed (unhappy emotion), the fourth minute you have just booked to attend the VinItaly Exhibition as an exhibitor, showing off your first wines (excited emotion) and the fifth minute you're reeling from the emotions experienced in 1-4 (exhausted emotion). And so it goes..
A far cry from the type of week we used to have - client meeting, calls, drafting, food, Starbucks “coffee”, meeting, drafting, client call, martini, martini, martini.
Ok, maybe the martini, martini, martini bit is still the same.
Toodles,
Paari & Niall
Really beautiful story. Great read. Thank you for sharing and continued success!
A lovely account of your journey so far. Well written and very readable. Nice to see the little touches of humour scattered here and there. Continued success and happiness with your ongoing project. Most people would only talk about a life changing experience not knowing where it was going to end up but you guys, took the plunge together. You deserve great credit for that. Continued success and fulfilment going forward. Mr ON Tramore