Arrivederci Torino

The author, Pino, Vito, Signora Luciana, Rosaria, Rocco

Since June last year I’ve been working in Europe, and due to that I kept an apartment in Torino, the fantastic piemontese city that was the first capital of unified Italy.

While working and spending a lot of time in Europe and having my family in the United States had its challenges and made me sick and tired of airplane food, not to mention all the time spent in airports and flying across the Atlantic, it also had many positive aspects.

I could tell stories about all the museums and gun clubs that I visited, restaurants known and unknown where I enjoyed fantastic meals, sometimes with good company, many times alone, and the moments of solitude that led me to start to write this blog.

Now, almost ten months since I started my assignment in Europe I am about to start a new chapter in my professional life, and due to that I no longer have an apartment in Torino, nor will I be going to Europe with the same frequency.

I hope to have the opportunity to spend a lot more time with my family, but this welcome change is bittersweet in at least one point. My father used to tell me that one of the most important aspects of life is that you should leave tracks by the places that you travel, and that you should always be able to go back to those places and be well received. My tracks are my friends.

In less than a year I had the privilege of establishing some fantastic friendships, and to celebrate that I had a farewell (in Italian “arrivederci”) dinner at my favorite restaurant in the world, “FRADIN DA VITO” in San Mauro Torinese, that belongs to my dear friend, superb chef and master hunter, Vito Benevelli and his gracious wife Signora Luciana.

To celebrate our friendship, my brave friend Pino Facchini, president of the Federazione Italiana Tiro a Volo (FITAV) – Comitato Regionale Piemonte, and my host in almost all my shooting experiences in Italy, along his son Rocco and Rocco’s wife Rosaria, joined me at Fradin for a fantastic meal.

From the Terrina di Pesce Persico, first of many antipasti to the last drop of Vito’s Genepi, a fantastic after dinner liqueur of Alpine flowers made by Vito himself, we spend several hours talking, remembering, eating, drinking, laughing or just enjoying life.

When we leave our tracks in the hearts of our friends, saying goodbye is just an excuse to meet again in the future. Even with tears in my eyes, I happily say:

Arrivederci Carissimi Amici, Arrivederci Torino, noi sentiamo a domani. Con grandissimo affetto, Rodrigo.