Scotland

First on the list of my favorite cities is … Scotland! Okay, I know, it’s not a city, but a country. But I just had to put it on my list of my favorite places in the world, and choosing one of its cities is really impossible. I lived in Stirling, a small university town, which is undoubtedly very nice, but it struck me more for its lifestyle than for its beauty. Edinburgh certainly is the most beautiful city I’ve seen in Scotland, but I’ve been there too few times to call it my favorite, Glasgow on the other hand is more gray and less beautiful, however there was a vibrant atmosphere and full of things to do. The rest are all quite small places, for example Oban, Fortwilliams, Inverness. The thing I like most about Scotland, more than its cities in themselves, is just the nature and the atmosphere. I remember as soon as I landed in Ayr and took the train to Stirling I immediately felt at home, I remember the greenery and those intense scenery outside the window. Driving to Skye was one of the most beautiful road trips I have ever taken in my life. The lakes, the castles, the greenery. I would drive for hours without getting tired. Still, years after I haven’t been there, it’s a country I’m very attached to even though I really couldn’t choose my favorite Scottish city.

New Orleans

I was in New Orleans last October and November, during my trip to the U.S. The initial plan was to spend a few days there, but I ended up staying almost three weeks. Partly because I had a problem with my credit card so I had to get Revolut (a digital bank) and had to wait for my physical card to arrive, and partly because I really enjoyed it! New Orleans is the food capital of the United States and it’s a cheerful and colorful city full of magic and music. Even though I am not a big fan of jazz it was wonderful to go out every night simply to have a drink and see such great live musicians. Then, since I was there during the Halloween season, every house was decorated and that gave the city a very special atmosphere. I probably also liked New Orleans so much because of the hostel where I stayed, Madame Isabelle, an old pink wooden house with a back patio. Between the staff and the guests there was a really welcoming and family-like atmosphere, which truly is the most important thing to me even when I travel.

Granada

Granada is a city where I lived for a short time last summer, while I was writing a dissertation and meanwhile working as a volunteer at Fundación escuela de solidaridad. It was not the first time I had been there though, once in November 2021 I had decided in the morning to leave Barcelona to go to Granada, as I had heard good things about it for a long time and was curious to see it. After a somewhat tumultuous trip by blablacar, after being dropped off in Alicante and almost robbed, I finally arrived at my destination and spent a week there. I thought the city was beautiful, but maybe because of the cold and the fact that I didn’t know anyone, I felt a bit lonely. Then I went back there in April 2022, spent a few days there after my trip to Portugal on my way back to Barcelona by land.

It’s a beautiful city, full of Arab influence, both in food and architecture. In summer then you can smell orange blossoms everywhere. I didn’t do much social life when I was there because I was quite busy and also because in summer the heat was really stifling, at midnight it was still 40 degrees sometimes! But when I could I would go walking and I really liked the relaxed southern atmosphere there, I especially liked the Arab quarter el Albaicín, where I discovered a little square to admire the view, I think it was called El mirador los tres amigos, there was also a restaurant, where I always got my cappuccino. Two other must-see places for me were the perfume museum and the Moroccan pastry store on Calle Elvira, next to Casa Kuna, a second-hand store where I worked. I loved standing there in front of the fan, watching people come in to buy things, like Maria, a lady from the neighborhood who came every day to buy something new-I always wondered what she was doing with all that stuff.

Lisbon

I spent about ten days in Lisbon in April 2022, when I took a trip to Portugal. I especially liked it for its open space, the breath of fresh air; when I go to a new city I like to get lost and walk around. I don’t know if Lisbon got into my heart because of its beauty or because in those days I felt so light and at peace, I miss the air of those days so much and it wasn’t just because I was on vacation, there was just something beautiful inside me. I stayed at the Home Hostel, a very nice hostel downtown where every night they organized a dinner for all the guests, it felt like family. There I met an American guy with whom I then took a road trip to southern Portugal. I threw myself into what felt like spring love, but without even realizing it I fell much more in love than I would have thought and bye-bye lightness. He was someone I felt very close to, and besides, it had been a long time since I had been in such close contact with someone all day long. Maybe it was almost inevitable that it would go that way.

To go back to the city, another thing I remember with pleasure is that the food was amazing, although I don’t remember the name of any restaurant-I’m not very good with these things, I never write down the names of restaurants, but if I go back to the city I usually remember the way to find the places I liked. Two years have passed and the carefreeness of those days now seems like a short parenthesis, however I always think back on it with pleasure, even if with a great melancholy.

St. Petersburg

When I was in college I studied Russian literature and during my first year I won a place for a two-week seminar that would take place in St. Petersburg. It was one of the few organized group trips I’ve taken in my life, apart from school trips and study vacations when I was a kid. And even though I usually don’t really like being in such large groups, it was really a good trip, I met a couple of girls who I stayed friends with, although with one of them I later lost almost all contact. St. Petersburg is a very different city from all the others I have seen, it is majestic, cold and a little bit magical, but magical in a dark way. It’s loaded with the charm of the history it has lived through. As I walked along Nevsky Prospect or through the corridors of the Hermitage I felt like a character in a Dostoyevsky book. Then, because of the favorable exchange rate with the ruble, I lived a nabob life in those days: cab and restaurant every day, it would be nice to be able to afford it more often. Besides, Russian cuisine really surprised me, especially all the restaurants from countries like Georgia and Uzbekistan, which are not really popular here. Once back in Italy, I moved to Spain after a few months, but I often thought that I would like to take another trip to Russia sooner or later. Now the situation sadly is what it is, so who knows if I will ever go back, however, it’s a nice memory and it’s definitely a city that I recommend everyone to visit if they have the chance.

Madrid

Madrid is the first city I ever went to alone when I was 17, at the time I had a friend from there that I had met in England. Then I went back there many other times, at 22 to visit another friend of mine, at 23 to spend a few days with a guy I had an “affaire” with, and then other times, from 2022 to 2023 I was in a master’s program in sexology and gender so I had to go there one weekend a month, then, last year I moved there for a couple of months to do an internship. It’s a big, majestic city, I’ve lived it a lot so it feels quite familiar, it’s not a place where I’ve just been on vacation. I don’t know if I would live there long-term because it’s really huge and I’d like to settle somewhere smaller, however, it’s a city I’m really fond of. Absolutely must try: in Madrid in my opinion they make the best tortilla de patatas in Spain, golden on the outside and dribbly on the inside, then there’s a café in Malasaña called El rincón and I really like it because they serve chicken broth in a cup. If you need something hot on a hard day, in my opinion there is nothing better!