{"id":887691,"date":"2026-08-07T09:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T08:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/?p=887691"},"modified":"2026-07-31T09:42:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T08:42:41","slug":"the-search-is-off-how-i-found-my-soul-home-in-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/the-search-is-off-how-i-found-my-soul-home-in-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Search is Off: How I Found My ‘Soul Home’ in Italy\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sarah Rose isn’t quite sure what exactly it was that drew her to Italy in the first place. Was it Italy’s respect for the earth? Its slow pace of life? Her family roots? Or perhaps something more mysterious altogether. Born in the US,\u00a0but now living in Italy\u00a0while leading tours across Europe, Sarah Rose\u00a0owes a lot of her personal development to her time in Italy. She’s now spent around a third of her life there learning many lessons along the way \u2014 a few of which she decided to share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Trafalgar
Sarah Rose has now called Italy her home for much of her life<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Italy is magical\u201d <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Rose wants to get one thing out of the way. \u201cI love Italy,\u201d she says immediately. \u201cI\u2019ve lived about a third of my life there; it\u2019s where I got into tourism, went to university, and it\u2019s part of my family background, which is Irish and Italian.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Italy is the world\u2019s\u00a0fifth most-visited country<\/a>\u00a0when it comes to tourism, but what exactly is it the draws people in?\u00a0\u201cAs\u00a0a destination, Italy is magical,\u201d she continues. “I have often questioned\u00a0why out of all the places in the world\u00a0\u2014 but\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0just because it is.\u00a0Italy’s landscape has the mountains, sea,\u00a0lakes \u2014 the same things many other places have, but\u00a0there’s\u00a0something else.\u00a0It’s\u00a0like in a dream, and that draws people.\u00a0Italy is escapism at its grandest.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon’t get me wrong, there’s magic everywhere. But Italy’s the place that people can\u2019t pin down why<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Rome feels like home\u201d <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Asking Sarah Rose to choose a\u00a0favorite\u00a0region or city in Italy is like picking a\u00a0favorite\u00a0child. \u201cOh,\u00a0that’s\u00a0so hard!\u00a0I lived in Rome for a third of my life. As a human being, I feel like most of my personal development happened there, much more so\u00a0than\u00a0the States, because I left\u00a0when I was 16\u00a0and never wanted\u00a0to come back,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u201cKnowing that my family came from\u00a0around Rome,\u00a0for me it feels like home, it will always feel like home. I know the streets, I know every corner, I know the little hidden places.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"gubbio,
Gubbio, one of Umbria’s underrated gems<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the same time, I\u00a0also\u00a0lived\u00a0three years in Umbria.\u00a0Umbria\u00a0is really,\u00a0really magical\u00a0in\u00a0a different way,\u00a0because it has this countryside that not that many people go to,\u201d she continues.\u00a0\u201cWhen we\u00a0stop over in\u00a0Assisi, I tell my guests:\u00a0\u2018I have\u00a0literally\u00a0four\u00a0hours to convince you to come back to Umbria, because Umbria doesn’t get love like some of the other places \u2014\u00a0and it’s so much more than Assisi.\u00a0There are\u00a0beautiful mountains,\u00a0waterfalls and rivers,\u00a0cities\u00a0like Gubbio\u00a0that has the largest Christmas tree in the entire world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe there’s a lot to experience in the south of Italy too. I think Calabria is going to be the next region I really dive into. I hope that in the future there’s more interest in this region.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There\u2019s a huge culture for the earth\u201d <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Rose\u2019s experience of living in Italy was led by locals, giving her an experience beyond the guidebooks\u00a0\u2014 which she can now pass on to her own tour guests. \u201cI first\u00a0moved\u00a0in with\u00a0a guy I met in Rome, and he lived in Norcia\u00a0(a few hours north of Rome).\u00a0So\u00a0I got this\u00a0really unique\u00a0experience to live in an isolated, small town. They\u00a0initially\u00a0had to collect all their water in a container\u00a0on\u00a0the roof and\u00a0had four hours of electricity per day with a generator. People lived\u00a0in such rustic conditions, but they did it on purpose\u00a0because they wanted to be out of the cities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverybody has their own gardens; you grow a huge amount of your own food. It was totally different than living in Rome, and it was really interesting for me to experience that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"umbria
Rural Italy has a ‘huge culture for the earth’<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cItalians are very much into using food\u00a0and nature\u00a0to keep yourself healthy,\u201d she continues. \u201cThere is a huge culture for the earth, and\u00a0a\u00a0green culture there that is so unknown because\u00a0it’s\u00a0in\u00a0hidden\u00a0pockets\u00a0\u2014 like Umbria.\u00a0When I lived there, we\u00a0would have meetings about\u00a0apicultura, taking care of bees, flowers, foraging. Elderly people walking along\u00a0the road\u00a0know exactly what plant\u00a0is\u00a0edible and how to pick it.\u00a0We’ve\u00a0lost a lot about\u00a0sharing\u00a0the importance of the earth and taking care of it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI say to my groups: you’ve taken the time and energy to learn about this country, you’re not just here to consume and go. You’re here to learn, and we’re going to let you do that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Dolce Vita is slowing down\u201d <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

La dolce vita<\/em>. Seen on t-shirts and Instagram captions\u00a0accompanying\u00a0Aperol spritzes and views of Italy\u2019s glistening coastline.\u00a0But,\u00a0much like the Danish\/Norwegian notion of\u00a0Hygge, has it been lost in translation?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt can mean such a variety of things,\u201d Sarah Rose acknowledges. \u201cDolce Vita for me, the real version, is slowing down. It’s not stress, it’s not consuming.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou could have a consumer sense of Dolce Vita, splashing cash, buying lots of things \u2014\u00a0but\u00a0that’s just capitalism.\u00a0The Dolce Vita of one time was people just slowing down, taking things at a slower pace. This had no impact on the environment the way it does now. What\u00a0we’ve\u00a0done is capitalise the concept of Dolce Vita into just being a consumer.\u00a0That’s\u00a0not Dolce Vita.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"locals
Dolce vita is about slowing down<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The one who’s enjoying Dolce Vita most is the little old man sitting at the bar, having his tipple or his coffee, watching the world go by. That is the best version of Dolce Vita you could imagine. So the meaning has been lost \u2014 but that’s why Travel Directors are awesome, because we can explain it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only can our Travel Directors teach you the history of these Italian nuances, but you\u2019ll meet locals who embody them in their daily lives. \u201cOn one of the trips I run, we meet a tour guide named Nora who’s lived in Italy for 50 years. She goes at a slow pace and walks with a cane. She says: \u2018we’re going to go at my pace, because you know what, I go slow, and guess what? That’s what you’re supposed to do when you come to Italy.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"olive
Foodies can catch fresh olive oil in November<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“November is for foodies\u201d <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The best time to visit Italy is hotly debated \u2014 but if you love food (and who in Italy doesn\u2019t love food?), Sarah Rose has a clear winner. \u201cI think for sightseers the best time to visit is April and May or September and October. But for a foodie, my favorite time in the whole year is November,\u201d she says. \u201cFresh olive oil, baby! You’ve got all the olive oil getting pressed, wine getting pressed, it\u2019s truffle season, it’s porcini mushroom season. Umbria has these frantoio aperto events, where they open up all the olive presses and you can go from one olive press to another and try the fresh stuff. For wine lovers they also do Cantina Aperta (\u2018Open Cellars\u2019), where again you go from cantina to cantina. November is for foodies.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sarah Rose isn’t quite sure what exactly it was that drew her to Italy in the first place. Was it Italy’s respect for the earth? Its slow pace of life? Her family roots? Or perhaps something more mysterious altogether. Born in the US,\u00a0but now living in Italy\u00a0while leading tours across Europe, Sarah Rose\u00a0owes a lot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":887742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4909],"tags":[201,37,55,23337],"class_list":["post-887691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people-stories","tag-europe","tag-italy","tag-rome","tag-umbria"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Search is Off: How I Found My 'Soul Home' in Italy\u00a0 - Real Word<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/the-search-is-off-how-i-found-my-soul-home-in-italy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Search is Off: How I Found My 'Soul Home' in Italy\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sarah Rose isn’t quite sure what exactly it was that drew her to Italy in the first place. 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