My Guardia Summer - by Victoria Ranzino

Since I started this blog, I have met some really amazing people and have LOVED hearing each of their stories as they discover the magic of Guardia for themselves. I thought you all would enjoy seeing Guardia through the younger eyes of the beautiful and talented Victoria Ranzino.

Victoria, thanks so much for sharing your heartfelt story!! - Patsy

Victoria's Story

Ciao tutti! My name is Victoria Ranzino. I’m 20 years old, and I’m from New Orleans, Louisiana. My dad, Guy, bought a house in Guardia Sanframondi, Italy, in April 2013 after seeing the first House Hunters International episode. Since then, he has made several trips to fix up the house and get things situated before he showed us (me and my 3 siblings) this little investment he made. We went for the first time this spring, and we absolutely and completely fell in love. We had visited our grandfather’s hometown in Sicily many times and have explored all around Italy, but something made Guardia different.

Anyway, the last couple of days of our first visit there I got to wondering what it would be like to immerse myself in this little hillside town. I don’t think I slept the last night we stayed there because I just couldn’t shake this question and others like these off of my mind. What if I stayed here for a month or two? Do you think anyone would want to stay here with me to do it? Would I be too scared to stay here alone? I’ve been studying Italian for almost a year; maybe I could come here to practice or do I not speak well enough for them to understand me? I had so many questions and so many emotions towards this little idea I brewed up in my head. Long story short, the next morning I woke up and told my dad I wanted to move there for 2 months during the summer. He looked at me like I was crazy. “Two months is a really long time,” said he and everyone else I told. You see, I had spent many summers in Cefalù, Sicily, but only for three to four weeks at a time; not to mention I always had at least my sister and my grandfather with me. By the last week of all of these Sicily trips we were always homesick so I knew none of my siblings would want to come with me for that long. I also knew that this is why everyone thought I was crazy for wanting to stay for two months. I didn’t really care though; as soon as we got back to the States I booked my ticket. June 11- August 12. It wasn’t until after I bought the ticket that I started to feel a little crazy. What am I going to do away from home, away from my family, for two months?! Luckily, my little brother Giovanni was eager to spend some time with me. He planned to meet me July 9th. Then my sister, Julia, and my boyfriend, Mark, decided to come meet us for the last two weeks. We arranged it to where we would all fly home together. All of this planning was done in late April and, as I just said, I’d be leaving in early June. That left me with about a month to prepare myself f

or what I was about to experience. I say prepare myself because I was starting to get pretty worried! I was worried that the people wouldn’t have patience when I’d speak. I’d worry that I’d get too lonesome away from everyone that I was leaving behind. I’d worry that I would get bored without a car. I was worried because maybe I didn’t know enough people there. As I type this, I smile at how wrong I was and how silly I was for worrying...

This was on June 11, around 7 a.m. (hence our appearances). I had to say goodbye to these babes [from left to right: Giovanni, Julia, Me, Mark, and Emilia]. I cried when I had to tell them goodbye, but it was so cool to know that the next time I would be seeing them would be in Italy. That is all of them except for Emilia because she’s the baby of our bunch and she couldn’t miss her first week of school. Also, her social life is a lot more alive than the rest of ours, and she never seems to miss a beat with her friends;) 

My tears dried up after I passed security; I was so excited and ready to go.

Roughly 24 hours and three flights later, I finally saw a familiar face.

Luigi, or as he prefers I call him, “Nonno” Orso, was waiting at the gate for me. He’s the best, and anyone who knows him will agree. He and his family own La Tana dell’Orso, the B&B in town. After maybe quite a few pit stops, we finally made it to Guardia. FINALLY! First, we stopped at the Orso’s bar, where Anna, Luigi’s wife, and their son Pasquale, welcomed me back. I was also welcomed by a big ole plate of delicious tuna pasta, grazie Anna! Pasquale made me the best (as always) cappuccino, and then he took me to my house...

This is the view from our terrace. The view I’d wake up to for the following two months; I was so excited.

After unpacking and settling in, it started. By it, I mean everything. I did not stop for the two whole months.

I went there with no expectations of what I would be doing with my days; however, Pasquale Orso did. He was determined to completely maximize my experience there, and he did just that. I’d spend a lot of my time eating and hanging out with the Orso family. They treated me like their own, and I will never be able to thank them enough for it. If I wasn’t sitting at the bar drinking a macchiato and talking to Pasquale, I was in the kitchen watching Anna cook (or eating what ever she cooked) or I’d be outside on the picnic table teaching Luigi random English words. Whatever I was doing at the Orsos’ bar, I was always happy to be doing it. 

 I also spent many days at Pasquale’s house in Puglianello with his beautiful daughters, Anna Luna and Elin, his wife Liliana, and his mother-in-law. We’d all eat lunch together before I’d take the girls outside to play for hours. They are polar opposites, but both so beautiful and smart. I made so many sweet memories with the two of them, and I’ve grown to love them both so much. I spent a lot of time with Liliana, too. She doesn’t speak any English, so I learned a lot of Italian from her. She was always very patient in teaching me and communicating with me. I really, really appreciated that. She has a little salon at home where she works, so after playing with the girls, she would take me in there and pamper me like a doll.  She does nails, makeup, waxing, you name it. And FYI, ladies: she’s really great! My eyebrows have never looked so good, honestly. Lili is one of the people I’m really glad I got to know. Pasquale and his family are the best. I could write this whole post on them, but I have so much more I have to say. Here are some pictures to sum up some of the memories I made with the Orsos:

Evening at the park with Pasquale’s daughters: Elin, Me, and Anna Luna.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                I spent a lot of time with Anna and Luigi. They always said they’re too old to be fun for someone young like me, but I had more fun with them than I do with most people my age.

This was one night in Telese after dinner. 

We were with some of Pasquale’s friends, Rafaele and his wife Lia and their son Michele. Rafaele and his family own the hardware shop in Guardia, La Ferramenta. They are all such nice and helpful people. Left to right: Liliana holding Elin, Lia, Rafaele, Me, Michele, and Anna Luna.

This is Anna’s uncle who spent some time with them when I was there. Zio Vittorio. He’s the cutest!

Liliana and me at a party at Cappuozzo.

My Italian style nails thanks to Liliana!

Fun day with the Orsos at Rainbow Magicland, an amusement park right outside of Rome. Me, Elin, Lili, Pasquale and Anna Luna.

One day G and I took a ride with Anna and Luigi to Minturno, a beach not far from Rome. Another reason why Guardia is so great is because it's only about an hour and a half from the beach, in pretty much every direction.

Another cool thing about hanging out at the Orso’s bar was getting to know the locals. I saw many of the same people everyday. I’d drink my macchiato as they’d drink their fourth beer. Some would buy their scratch-off lottery tickets and then hand them to me with a coin. I think they think I’m really unlucky because I never (ever) scratched off winning numbers. I have so many stories from the bar. I was at the bar when Pasquale signed me up to work with his cousin Maria and her husband Emiliano Assini at the pescheria. It happened like this: Emiliano jokingly asked, “Victoria, do you want to come to the pescheria tomorrow to clean the fish with my wife?”

Before I had the chance to open my mouth, Pasquale answered, “She’ll be there at 8 o’clock.” I definitely would have shot for 10 o’clock, but I knew there was no use in arguing with Zio Pasquale. “It’s for the experience.” So for anyone wondering how I got a job selling fish, that’s how. I was there for 8 o’clock the next morning.

I met Maria, and she taught me how to weigh the fish and work the register. I think I caught on pretty quickly. After the first day, she welcomed me back to help her every Wednesday and Friday morning. I was there for almost every Wednesday and Friday morning for the rest of my trip.

I had so much fun working with her and getting to know her and her family. If you are coming from the Orsos’ bar, the pescheria is on the left of Via Umberto, right before you would merge right to go to La Meridiana. If you go, tell them I sent you! :)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

                                                                                                                                                                                                            Besides the fishmongers, I also became very close with the butchers at I Piaceri della Carne.

This is the meat shop not too far past the Municipio on the right. If you haven’t been there yet, you haven’t had the best sausage in Guardia. Elvio Sanzari owns it and runs it with his wife Ada, his younger brother Gabriele, and Ada’s brother Dario.

These are some of the most entertaining people I met while I was there. They too felt so much like family that we just started referring to each other as cousins.

Gabriele (Elvio’s brother) acted as my older cousin while I was there. Since, I didn’t have a car, he was always kind enough to drive me wherever I needed to go, and he was there as soon as or if ever I needed something. He was by far the best companion I could have asked for who showed me and taught me so much about the way of life there in Italy. Gabri is only 3 years older than me so we had a lot of things in common, leaving us with so much to talk about. Not to mention, he speaks English very well (which makes it very helpful when ordering meat at the meat shop, just ask for Gabriele). He also introduced me to all of his really cool friends, so I had a group of people my age to hang out with, so that was nice. We would have so much fun. We would laugh, and laugh, and laugh. I found a friend in him that I don’t even have here at home in America. The world needs more people like him and his family.

·       Us in our butcher’s aprons with the cutest little Giuseppe (Elvio’s son)!

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One of the nicest days spent on the Amalfi Coast with our big cuz Gabriele! Only about an hour and a half drive from Guardia to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

Ada teaching us how to make the most amazing cookies in the world. She bakes and decorates beautiful, delicious cakes too. All of the best sweets and pastries I had while in Guardia were from her and her sister-in-law Lucia.

This is us with Elvio (right) and Gabriele (left) right after we inhaled Elvio’s amazing sausage sandwiches that were sold at Vinalia. Vinalia is the annual wine festival in Guardia, when the streets are full of people who have over-consumed some of the best wine ever to be drunk, most of which actually comes from Guardia (how cool: you’re drinking wine with the people who grew it’s grapes!). It lasts from August 4-10 and is full of amazing food, music, but especially vino. It’s a fun time for sure.  

Another family I had the pleasure of getting to know was the De Lucia's.  I spent a lot of time with Stefano (another one of my cousins) and his beautiful girlfriend Miriana. Before coming to Guardia, Stefano and Miriana invited Giovanni, Julia, Mark and me to go with them to Milan for a couple of days to see the Expo. So we all trained from Naples to Milan towards the end of our trip, and all I really have to say about that is wow.

 The Expo was too incredible to put into words. Honestly, if you’re going to be in Italy sometime before it ends in October, GO! You would not regret it.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Anyway, Stefano and his family were great. Mr. Enrico, Stefano’s dad, owns one of the biggest and most beautiful pieces of land in the valley, which I was lucky enough to get to see.

They gave us tractor tours of their gorgeous piece of land full of grape vines and vegetables. It gave me a whole different perspective on how beautiful the Earth is; the experience was surreal. Stefano and his friends were also nice enough to welcome us into their friend group.

This is Stefano, his dad, Giovanni and Julia harvesting vegetables at their farm. It’s such a beautiful piece of land that we were lucky enough to get to see.                      

                           

Seriously, look at the vegetables we picked from Stefano’s farm. Aren’t they pretty? They tasted even better than they looked!

They would always take me to the events going on in the different towns near Guardia. It's always refreshing to be able to see things through a local's perspective and they really allowed me to do that.

              

Stefano and his friend took G and me to swim in these beautiful natural pools about 20 minutes from Guardia, right near Pontelandolfo.

Miriana, Stefano, and me one night visiting the Medieval castle in the little town of Faicchio.

 Faicchio is
 only about 20 minutes from Guardia. Their castle isn’t always open to the public, but occasionally they will hold events in it (much like the castle in Guardia). There was some kind of festival going on there that night so we decided to take a ride. The inside of the castle was insane. It was literally a storybook that came to life. Definitely worth the ride if the castle is open.

The squad at Vinalia cheering to Stefano’s birthday! Cin cin!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
All in all, my summer in Guardia Sanframondi was so unbelievably amazing. I couldn’t have lasted the first month alone there if it weren’t for all of the new family I made there. I will never, ever be able to thank the people I met enough for touching my heart in the way they did or the memories they placed there. I could not be more blessed to have a home in one of the most beautiful towns in Italy. It’s not trendy like Rome or Florence or Venice, but it feels like home, regardless of where you’re from.

I can’t wait to go back whenever that may be. I know I have a whole town’s worth of people waiting for me to return, and it’s so unreal how comforting that is for me. I’m so proud of myself for deciding to take this two-month adventure over seas despite my nervousness. I knew there was a reason I couldn’t shake the idea of going on this adventure, and it wasn’t until I returned home and flipped through my thousands of pictures that I learned why.

Thank you Patsy for letting me share my little piece of Guardia!