The America-Italy Society of Philadelphia
Vittorini Award
since 1963
for Undergraduate Excellence in Italian at University of Pennsylvania
Vittorini Award 2025
Alan Raskin
My name is Alan Raskin, and I am currently an undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania.
My experiences made me even more passionate about studying Italian: learning another language and culture feels to me like building a bridge to another way of life.
Outside the classroom and workplace, I’m finding new activities to try and fail at.
Whether I’m falling in mud on an ambitious hike or getting yarn tied into knots between knitting needles, I love to take on a challenge. The only feeling better than getting great at something you’re good at is getting good at something you’re bad at, so I see my “failures” as the “getting good” part. It’s this craving for unfamiliar experiences that ultimately led me to want to study abroad.
- Alan Raskin -
Week 8
This week has been a slower week in Milan, as it’s the final one before midterms, and I had to manage some logistics, regarding travelling and getting assignments turned in. Still, there was some room for time away from my desk.
My roommate and I hosted a little housewarming to collect the friends we’ve made into a room. For food, we were heavily inspired by the assortments we usually get for aperitivo.
Fortunately, I was able to see a few different restaurants while here in Milan. A friend took me to a casual place for lunch on Via San Tomaso with a small menu of mostly pastas. The menu was presented in courses, so you could choose if you wanted any combination of first or second courses and dessert.
Looking around, I realized many of the people eating there were employees on their lunch breaks, and they found this restaurant-looking but canteen-style serving convenient. The food itself was also delicious, and for a quick lunch, I appreciated the efficiency of getting the food we ordered right as we ordered it and picking any open spots at any tables to eat it.
A few friends and I also went to Le Striatelle di Nonna Mafalda, another excellent restaurant where I got their lasagna, as well as a cake with the flavors of tiramisu with its coffee and cocoa. Here, I took note of a common paper placemat used by restaurants: a map of Italy’s regions with names of different wines surrounding the country in the places where they are produced. Now that I’ve noticed it, I can’t stop looking out for it.
Aside from food, I also had my first haircut in Italy this week. The folks at the salon I went to were very helpful in asking questions to get the result I was after, and it was good practice for my Italian.
I’m not sure if my experience can speak for all of the barbers of Italy, but this haircut took longer than any other I’ve received in the U.S., across multiple people and places. My usual time in the chair doubled, as my barber was very precise and explained his vision for different parts of my hair and head.
Other men I’ve talked to who are on exchange have said similar things about their haircuts being longer processes with more shaped results. I’m absolutely not complaining about the extra time taken – I like the haircut he gave – but it’s interesting to see how men’s (maybe all) haircuts are approached, perhaps with more attention and precision than in the U.S.
With my schoolwork done and hair short again, I’m excited to enjoy some time without having to split my attention between work and the other side.
Week 7
This week was another full week in Milan, this time for largely academic purposes. Bocconi’s midterm season is coming up, and for the most part, I’m excited.
At Penn, each class schedules its own midterms, usually more than one, and they occur alongside classes, so midterm periods signal a ramp-up in stress and work. Unlike this system, at Bocconi, midterms operate more like finals, with a two-week period reserved only for exams. As a result, I have mostly a two-week break coming up with the exception of two exams in the middle of the period.
This week, I spent lots of time on Booking.com and Skyscanner organizing my flights for before and after these exams. In exchange, I’m reserving this week and next to study so that I can forget about academics for the time I’m traveling to other places. Though it’s more work now, I much prefer this system to Penn’s.
In between study sessions, I went to different places in the city to do some shopping in preparation for the colder weeks ahead. Near Duomo, there are lots of stores of European brands like Arket and Massimo Dutti with great staples for (semi) reasonable prices.
Fortunately for me, on this same shopping spree, I stumbled upon Musto Calzature, a Milanese shoe brand specializing in leather goods. Their shoes are 100% Italian leather, crafted in Tuscany and sold in Milan. I decided to splurge on the favorite pair of dark brown leather shoes I saw, and after a few wears, I’m so glad I did; I feel like I gained more than I spent.
Many stores I went to had options for trench coats and leather jackets, but I’ll hold off on purchasing those in favor of a vintage showroom I found in Navigli. I found out about this place and how to get there via a deep dive through Reddit, since this place is not searchable online or on Google Maps.
The store is run in a basement room of an apartment building, so I actually had to ring a doorbell to get in. The charismatic owner, Franco, quickly befriended me and helped me practice my fashion vocabulary in Italian.
For thirty minutes, I was the only person in the store, so he hand-selected some wool trench coats for me to try on based on what I was looking for. In between try-ons, he explained to me the 23-year history of the showroom, how it’s changed ownerships, and how he got inspired to work in fashion after moving from Palermo to Milan. His selection was so vast that I knew I couldn’t make a purchase without returning again to find my very favorite, but I absolutely will be coming back later this week with friends.
His store and story are even more excellent examples of how fashion creatives find a home in Milan and exchange their creativity with each other to curate exactly the sort of fashion they obsess over. In a world where many cities adopt a corresponding dominant profession (perhaps finance in NYC or tech in San Francisco), I’m yet again thrilled to be in a place dominated by a love for creativity expressed through clothing.
The remainder of the week was spent either studying alone or eating and drinking with friends. I finally hit Osteria da Fortuna, a small Italian chain famous for their handmade pasta, where the chefs prepare everything behind glass to expose the process to patrons.
We played card games over cocktails and aperitivo at various locations we chose just moments after seeing them, and spent hours talking at Officine, a bar conveniently close to Bocconi’s campus, where crowds of students gather on Tuesdays.
The week ended low and slow with a walk through a park in Argonne just outside of the city’s center, courtesy of a friend living in Milan. With an open field, rocky gravel paths, and a highway hanging far in the background, the place was strikingly different from even the more nature-y and scenic parts of Italy I’ve explored so far. It even smelled different from Milan’s bustling aroma of cars, good food from restaurants, and the faintest cigarette.
In fact, the park felt exactly like so many I find in my hometown in Upstate New York and around Philly. My friend apologized for the landscape being ‘not that pretty,’ and while I can understand where he’s coming from, having grown up in Venice and lived in Milan, I found my own special piece of beauty in it.
While I’m missing home and Philly very much, I don’t feel done with my time here at all, and I can’t wait for school to be out for a few weeks so I can get back to exploring 24/7.
Week 6
Schoolwork is picking up noticeably, and I’ve started to see a clearer difference between the free time I have during the week and on weekends.
Throughout most of the week, if I’m not in class, I’m usually at the Bocconi library or whichever academic building has the quietest space. Nevertheless, I’m still making an effort to get out of my school’s neighborhood at least once during the week, to get some break and try new food.
On Wednesday, I ventured with a friend to La Fettunta, a Tuscan restaurant in the center of Milan. Though the restaurant was Tuscan, I figured taking a trip to Florence would be a better opportunity to try Tuscan cuisine and chose something more Lombardian – ossobuco alla milanese, a bone-in cut of veal served with risotto. I quickly was satisfied with my decision; the meat tasted rich and very tender, and the risotto had a good bite to it, reminding me that I may be overcooking the pasta I make at home.
Later in the week, a few Bocconi friends and I tried Del Ponte, a pizzeria closer to Bocconi, where I kept it simple and had their diavola, another great choice. Eating pizza here with a fork and knife is new to me, but now that I’m more used to it, my inner germaphobe appreciates not having to eat with my hands.
Despite my effort to try new restaurants, most of my sustenance comes from grocery stores like Conad and Esselunga throughout Italy. The available products remind me a lot of what I see in the U.S., aside from a much wider and less expensive availability of dried and fresh pastas. However, some grocery practices here are certainly stricter.
In produce sections, plastic gloves are offered for selecting the loose fruits and vegetables, and they are widely used. Produce markets here are similar, where customers are asked not to touch the fruits or vegetables but instead wait for an employee to become available and assist them. I unfortunately learned these the hard way after some scolding at the markets and dirty looks at the grocery store for touching the produce. Both practices fit into a theme of cleanliness that’s absent from American food shopping, where our mentality is that the food will be washed anyway.
There is also a level of security surrounding theft that I’ve never seen in the States. For example, after purchasing from self-checkout, you’re required to scan your receipt before stepping out of the shopping area. One time, I came into a grocery store with items from a previous store in separate bags. Suspicious about the difference between my large haul and short receipt, the store clerk here asked me to show my receipts from all purchases and searched my groceries to make sure everything lined up correctly. As a customer, these practices make the shopping experience more difficult and layered. However, as a former grocery store employee, I understand how these rules prevent the spoilage of produce and loss of inventory, which are consistently problematic for our Walmarts, Krogers, and Giants.
Over the weekend, I was fortunate enough to travel with other study abroad students to Munich, Germany, for Oktoberfest straight from the source. We traveled by bus, arriving early Saturday morning and leaving at night on the same day. With no time to waste, we got in line as soon as we got to Munich to enter the festival, and I feel very glad that we did. We entered early enough to find a table at the Schottenhamel tent and immediately ordered a liter of their beer for each person, and some pretzels to share. It wasn’t long before our area filled up with patrons from many places, speaking English, Spanish, Italian, and, of course, German.
Something I quickly noticed about the festival was how social it was, which I’m sure came from a mix of the food, music, and free-flowing supply of beer. Parties in the U.S. and even in Milan are a bit more reserved, with people keeping to themselves for the most part. At Oktoberfest, on the other hand, I bonded immediately with an Italian man who bumped into me and said “scusi” (to which I replied, “niente”), some British girls who overheard my friends and me speaking English, and with a German man who had a similar pair of glasses to mine. Any reason to speak to each other was reason enough, and I was loving the lively atmosphere throughout the festival.
Before leaving the borders of Oktoberfest, I had to try some variation of Würst. I wish I could remember the name of the specific food I ordered, but I honestly just pointed to the longest sausage I could find and went with that – a necessary purchase post-liter-of-beer.
Without much time in Munich left, a small group and I aimlessly explored the city and marveled at the Bavarian architecture before heading to our bus back to Milan.
Needless to say, Sunday was a day for reconnecting with calmness and nature, which I did on a walk through the parks of Porta Venezia. I’m glad to have found a little balance between the calmness of work and the excitement of outings! Still, I would love to maximize the latter even more next week.
Week 5
I’m surprised it took a month, but this week was my first full week in Milan. Although my motivation for staying came from a desire to study and catch up on work, I actually accomplished little academically and spent much more time exploring and falling in love with the city.
A good chunk of my week was spent traversing Quadrilatero della Moda, Milan’s high-end fashion district. Anyone spending some time in Milan can see the abundance of brand names and shopping opportunities, but this was my first time dipping my toes into some of the more luxurious brands, mostly concentrated in this district.
Window shopping through the narrow streets of the neighborhood was fascinating, but it was the unique plaid-leather boots of Pollini that actually brought me into my first store to browse deeper. What caught my attention about Pollini, an Italian brand specializing in leather goods, was a specific pair of boots with a leather top and hydro-repelling plaid fabric sides.
Immediately, I was greeted with a smile and several offers for help by enthusiastic staff, the likes of which put my years in retail customer service to shame. I felt as though I had a personal assistant in those twenty minutes, informing me of the finest details in every pair of shoes and finding the perfect size for my feet. Turns out, European sizes are completely different from American ones. After some time, I had to wake up to the reality of the 400 euro price tag on my favorite pair, but I loved gaining some inspiration for the hopefully cheaper boots I’ll eventually buy.
My next stop was to Jacques Marie Mage, an LA-based eyewear brand. At first entrance, I was turned away because of an influx of customers in the store, which I didn’t understand since the store seemed mostly empty.
Upon my return, I realized they only wanted to ensure I would have the full attention of their fashion experts, who analyzed my face and hand-selected a slew of glasses for me to try on. As someone who spent hours in LensCrafters asking for advice and only getting back a “well, what do you think of the pair?,” I felt thrilled to be in the hands of a knowledgeable and opinionated team. They opened my myopic eyes to details about my face I had never considered and explained how the perfect pair of glasses can complement my features best.
Along the way, I was offered water, juice, and coffee at least six times – a totally new shopping experience for me. Noticing my curiosity, the staff was kind enough to show me around the lab where custom lenses are cut for any pair. Again, my wallet remained closed, but every step of this process solidified how the fashion employees in Milan see themselves less as salespeople and more as artists. Even if I won’t be their buyer, I’m 100% okay being their muse.
In the evenings of the week, I was on a mission to check out more of the bar scene in Milan. My first spot was with my roommate, who recommended an aperitivo spot next to Porta Ticinese, a monument marking the start of the Navigli district, known for its bars and nightlife.
Aperitivo is like the Italian version of a happy hour with one notable exception - aperitivo usually comes with food, and an abundance of it. Our drinks were anywhere from eight to twelve euros, a reasonable price on its own but very cheap when a small dinner is included, full of focaccia, salami, taralli, and other miscellaneous snacks.
When my other exchange friends (and Reddit) ran out of suggestions for me, I recruited an Italian man living in Milan to expand my bar palette and be a tour guide. He took me to Chiosco Mentana, which is supposedly the spot for ‘wannabe finance bros,’ an idea he got when he found out I’m at Bocconi this semester.
It’s important to note that chiosco here means kiosk; Milan is full of bars that aren’t situated in indoor spaces, but rather are food-and-drink-serving kiosks in a piazza where people mostly stand around the kiosk drinking with their friends. It’s a more packed but more relaxed space than a traditional bar, in my opinion.
Our next stop was Colibrì, an indoor-outdoor bar with a calm but vibrant atmosphere, full of beautiful dim lighting, light jazz music, and low Italian chatter all around us. We went on to Moscova, an elegant district in Milan with lots of outdoor bars and restaurants, where we had aperitivo, which again substituted dinner.
He took me around Porta Nuova and Porta Garibaldi, two modern-looking nearby districts with skyscrapers, clothing stores, live music, and lots of people of all ages – from full families at the playground to working-age adults enjoying an impromptu concert. He explained how just fifteen years before, Porta Garibaldi was only a train station, and only recently was the area renovated to include the skyscrapers that define it today.
Our tour ended with what might be my new favorite spot in Milan: LibrOsteria (a mix of libreria, meaning bookstore, and osteria, a type of restaurant) between Sempione Park and Chinatown. On top of the niche selection of ciders they offered, the bar boasted a wall-wide collection of books on politics, history, and culture, and lots of antifascist political messaging in the form of stickers, posters, and newspaper articles throughout the space.
I’ve noticed that Milan is a city not shy of sharing its political leanings, and this bar is no exception. I’m a firm believer that the politics of our history and the communities we create today are intertwined, and I love being in a place that doesn’t turn away from that difficult conversation.
It’s no wonder everyone in and outside LibrOsteria, myself included, was entangled in some deep, interesting discussion about our world. Such a politically active space inevitably inspires meaningful conversation, and in a time where politics feel so divisive, I’m glad there’s at least one place where it’s used not to separate, but rather to foster a community. I’ll definitely be returning to this spot and maybe pick up a book instead of a drink (or ideally, both).
I’m not sure I’m there yet completely, but I believe this week was an important step in experiencing Milan in every way it comes – in beauty, history, controversy, and inspiration alike.
Week 4
With classes beginning this week, I spent a lot more time than usual reading, studying, and doing work, and much less time doing sightseeing and taking photos. Although, the operative word in study abroad is “study,” as much as I wish it were the other way around. Still, it’s not all bad, as my classes are proving to be very interesting.
To complete my majors at Penn, I’m taking three classes in economics and one class in computer science, though the exact classes I’m taking have changed throughout the week, as I dropped classes I realized I wouldn’t enjoy in favor of ones I didn’t consider before. As of now, my classes are about climate change economics, government/nonprofit economics, math behind game theory, and big data analytics.
Topics covered in these classes seem similar to the topics that would be covered in their equivalent Penn versions (albeit it’s new to see the USA as the ‘international’ example in my government economics class, with EU governments as ‘domestic’ examples). However, the flow of the course is very different from what I’m used to. Most of my classes place much smaller grading emphasis on continuous assessment (quizzes, participation, collaboration), with almost all of my grade resting on a midterm exam and a final exam. In one of the classes I dropped, my grade would’ve been entirely from one exam at the end of the semester. From my conversations with other European university students, this is a more common practice throughout European universities than in the US. Also, unlike at Penn, where most of my classes come with a recitation or a lab (a smaller section focused on review, collaboration, and group discussion), I only have lectures at Bocconi.
To compensate for this, my professors utilize the Socratic method much more than I’m used to, asking questions of our class group in the hopes of getting honest answers, whether initially correct or incorrect. This allows us to achieve some form of participation and interaction with the material without an entirely separate section devoted to discussion. This style of education, however, results in a learning path that is much more motivated by the student. There are no bi-weekly assignments letting me know if I understand the material. There is no dedicated time to asking questions and resolving confusions. Rather, the onus is on me to take charge of my own learning and decide when I understand or when I need to interrupt class for a question. I’m sure this is a necessary experience for my academic growth, but in all honesty, I’m not a fan of this system and much prefer having my hand held a bit more in my classes. Hopefully, the interesting content value propels me through this course.
Also this week, I had my meeting with the Questura (police station) to get my permit of stay and get my fingerprints taken, the last step in my battle against the Italian bureaucracy for this permit. I had my meeting scheduled for 9 in the morning, so I arrived at the building an hour early just to be safe. Turns out, I wasn’t safe enough, and there was a long line of students and hopeful immigrants to Italy who had the same idea as me. In the end, I waited two hours for my document submission and another two hours for my fingerprints, leaving the office at noon. My roommate, who showed up only fifteen minutes early, was denied entry since her wait would take over six hours, and she was told to return another day. Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather wait hours in a police station than risk trouble with deportation, but after four hours, I felt more than frustrated that my ‘smart thinking’ and ‘early arrival’ couldn’t beat the famously lengthy process of submitting Italian immigration papers.
Fortunately, some friends and I anticipated the busy week and booked a trip to Malta for the weekend. The US has Frontier and Spirit, but even those budget airlines can’t undercut the prices of RyanAir and easyJet.
Upon landing in Malta, I immediately noticed that the landscape resembled less of a European country and more of a North African country. My friend from Tunisia agreed, noting how among Roman churches and British statues was an overall North African architectural design.
As it turns out, the native Maltese (spoken by almost all of the country) is the only Semitic language written in a Latin script – its letters look like English, but when spoken, it’s understandable by speakers of Tunisian and Libyan Arabic.
It’s also very clear that Malta is a very multicultural space. Although nearly everyone speaks Maltese, I had no issue getting around in English. Many people around me asked for and received help in Italian, Arabic, and Hindi, and I even found a few Russian speakers living on the island I could converse with. I’d say, relative to other parts of the world, places like Milan and New York are diverse, but nowhere to this level.
In our couple of days, we packed in as many varying activities as we could. We swam along the beautiful shores of Mellieha in the East of the island where we stayed, and made ventures further West during the day.
In Valletta, the capital city of Malta, we saw a blend of the history of Malta – most notably a statue of Queen Victoria from its decades as a British protectorate, and not a block away, a statue commemorating the Maltese protestors killed in their uprising against British rule.
Further inland, we passed through Mdina, a beautiful town with heavy influence from its Ottoman era, when it was restructured. Mdina was certainly less urban and more historic than Valletta, but still with its own shops and restaurants.
Not much further away, we stopped by the small town of L-Imgarr per the recommendation of a taxi driver who I interrogated for food recommendations. He passed along some of his favorite locations for Maltese delicacies, and we decided on a restaurant behind a church where we could try rabbit fried in white wine and horse meat cooked in a stew. The meal was nothing short of delectable, and it was an excellent introduction to these cuts of meat.
Our trip ended with an exploration of the nightlife in St. Julian’s, a Maltese town not far from Valletta. It’s clear that there’s so much Malta has to offer someone, and we got to channel the sides of us that love to learn, explore, eat, lounge, and party all in one weekend. This might have been my last time of the semester swimming on the beach, but I’m glad I got some exposure to inexpensive European weekend trips, even taking flights. I’m sure after the long study weeks ahead, these mini-explorations will become especially necessary.
Week 3
Excitingly and unfortunately at the same time, classes are beginning, marking a slowdown in my travels and the start of Milan’s colder rainy season. To compensate, I spent three days out of the week taking day trips to different beaches, soaking in heat and sun rays before they’re gone for the rest of my time here.
This started with a trip to Faggetto Lario on Lake Como, on a semi-sandy beach with turquoise, chilly water.
Two days later, I took a train south to Portofino, where I spent most of my time walking through the town to see its historic sights. I had known from pop culture about the beauty and glamour of Portofino (and the high price tag that comes with it), but I was surprised to see a strong bedrock of culture and history that upholds this reputation.
Hiking up a hill to get to Castello Brown, I explored the rooms of this castle where families used to live, admiring the preservation of the terraces, furnaces, living rooms, and other spaces that demonstrate how this now-museum was once truly a home. Across the living rooms of the Castello were photographs of notable actors, politicians, and European royalty surrounded by adoring citizens during their trips to Portofino.
Before the beach, we made visits to the Church of San Martino, Church of San Giorgio, and ports used during wartime, where there were signs honoring the Italian civilians who lost their lives for the decisions made by global governments, Italian and others.
It’s no surprise that there’s a ban on walking the streets in only a bathing suit in Portofino and other coastal towns. In Italy, many peaceful beach waters are forever tied to a history of culture, joy, and hardship. With that comes a need to preserve respect and modesty on the land, even if the rules are different just fifty meters away. It’s fascinating to see this sort of intertwining as someone coming from the States, where natural beachy beauty and deep history are more often geographically separated than they are connected.
My last trip out of Milan this week was to Noli, another town on the Ligurian Coast, this time to the west of Genoa. Noli was noticeably smaller and centered around more local living rather than tourism, compared to Como and Portofino. As with the other beautiful coastal areas, the beach was simply stunning, and I loved seeing clearly the sea floor, knowing my feet couldn’t touch it.
This final trip, however, revealed one pleasant and one harder reality of Italian living. This trip, and the others, were planned just days in advance, thanks to the extensive and inexpensive public rail transit throughout Italy.
No matter how poor and last-minute my planning was, a ticket never exceeded 25 euros to go up to three hours of distance. Though I didn’t see any cancellations due to the Trenitalia strikes, I did miss a connection due to a delay in my first train. My American brain immediately thought I’d be waiting at least four hours for the next train, but the frequency of arrivals here meant the wait was only fifteen minutes. I can only imagine what a hassle it would be to resolve a missed train on Amtrak, where it would’ve been costly in both time and money. If anything screams ‘la dolce vita’ to me, it’s missing a transfer without missing a whole vacation.
Upon arrival in Noli, however, a reality about Italian Sundays set in – many shops and stores are closed, including large chains that were open throughout the August holiday. My usual run to Conad or Carrefour for some cold cuts, a loaf of bread, and a beverage was foiled. This experience opened my eyes to the slightly heightened planning needed in Italy to secure food, at least compared to the U.S., where grocery stores are often open until midnight, and I’m never far from a 7/11 open 24/7. Hopefully, this adjustment turns me into a more skillful planner when it comes to buying food (though not when purchasing transportation).
My time in between travels were more peaceful Milan days with mini adventures of their own. One evening, a trivia night with Bocconi’s Erasmus Student Network turned into bar hopping, where I especially remember the ambiance of Flow, a little west of Duomo.
What started as a quick trip to COS for darker jeans transformed into an idyllic walk through Brera, ending up at Il panino del laghetto. I have never simply had bread, salami, pesto, and ricotta that blend together so well; I swear they do something special.
With classes starting, I went to gather school supplies and prepared my mind for the months ahead. I have loved hitting a new city every other day, but a big part of me is excited to have school to tie me down to Milan for a bit longer. I can tell these neighborhoods I simply pass through have much to offer, and now that I’ve hit many of them at least once, I’m hoping to delve a little deeper.
Week 2
After over a full week in Milan, I feel myself settling into the space I’m living in. Finally, I can get around my little corner of the Porta Lodovica neighborhood without Google Maps as a crutch, and I’ve made my way around the Bocconi campus.
Although my economics and computer programming classes haven’t started, this week marked the beginning of the Italian Crash Course, a two-week intensive Italian class building on a previous semester of Italian I took at Penn.
This course has opened my eyes to how the Italian language may be somewhat easy when trying to be understandable, but becomes very difficult when the goal is to speak well. Our professor strives to interweave the nuances of idioms, North/South language differences, and hand gestures into the necessities of verb tenses, prepositions, and vocabulary.
As an American, learning the basics of communication in Italian feels similar to when we learned Spanish or French in school. On the other hand, the hidden language details that fluctuate with the time of day, the person you’re speaking to, and the meaning of your words have been much more difficult to grasp. That being said, it is the distinction between getting around in Italian and (hopefully, eventually) being a fluent speaker.
Italian, unsurprisingly, is a necessary skill to have when in Italy, even in such an international and diverse city like Milan. Discomfort comes with studying abroad, and speaking slowly, simply, and with errors in the majority language has proven to be a great discomfort. Still, the Italians around me have been very helpful in overcoming it.
Though my efforts to not sound like a foreigner have proven to be futile, even the English-speaking Italians I’ve spoken to are willing to respond in Italian and repeat themselves so I can understand. They counter my embarrassment with “Va tranquilo” - “It’s okay,” and remind me that with patience and continued effort, my spoken Italian will improve in my months here. So, I’m holding faith in that while I keep trying.
This week has not only been learning, but more exploring as well. Milan’s intense rain has made it difficult to spend much time outside in parks like Sempione, but at least it gives me an excuse to buy boots here.
I’ve also been attending some of the student events happening for the welcome week in the evenings, which has been a great way to meet new Bocconi students. These events have brought me to some interesting places, including Idroscalo Lake near the Linate Airport and Gattopardo, a 19th-century church which was deconsecrated in the 1970s and became a disco in 2001. It’s also brought me back to the Galleria at night for a less crowded experience and to a nearby gelato chain, Venchi, where I will be trying all the flavors.
To wrap up the week, I attended a day trip with Bocconi’s Erasmus Student Network to learn more about wine production in Nizza Monferrato in Italy’s Asti province.
Bersano, a wine producer local to the area, was kind enough to let us into their wine museum, winery, and vineyards. We received a lesson in the history and present of wine making, from the years when a community wine press had to be manually operated by several people to today, when wine in the area is agriculturally protected under the DOCG quality label, and only 18 local municipalities have the right to label their wine “Nizza DOCG”.
We were taken through the cellars and got to taste some of the red, white, moscato, and rosé wines Bersano produces. Our Bersano guides ended our trip with a walk through some of the vastness of just one plot of the Barbera grape vines.
Although only twenty people will pick the 50+ acres of grapes in that plot, we were told how a community of engineers, farmers, innovators, and more come together to preserve this historic and refined aspect of Nizza Monferrato. Whether it was wine production, language, or weather-appropriate clothing, I learned a great deal this week, and I’m looking forward to more of it.
Week 1
This past Tuesday, I landed in Milan and moved into my apartment for the semester. I planned to come a bit early, so this week I had no classes or orientation activities – these days were purely mine to get settled.
On par with Italian bureaucracy, my first tasks were to secure my tax code (codice fiscale) and permit of stay application (permesso di soggiorno). Although I accepted I wouldn’t do any sightseeing while handling these documents, I found myself taking many detours on the way to the post office to admire a building or explore a church. It’s possible that this is just the grass being greener on the other side, but I really do think there is a thoughtfulness and beauty in the architecture I’ve seen around Milan that just doesn’t exist in the USA, or at least Philadelphia.
A wrong turn led me to the courtyard of Santuario di Santa Maria dei Miracoli presso San Celso, a beautiful Catholic church with biblical statues surrounding the outdoor area. To my surprise, this was not a main tourist hub or in a particularly busy area; it’s simply a church where people pray that happens to be artistically and architecturally stunning. These sorts of art pieces in places that seem “random” continue to surprise me, as government offices and fast food chains all exist in a carefully designed exterior space.
Once my documents were squared away, I got out to do a little exploring in Milan. Not a far walk from my apartment are the Duomo and Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, so I got to enjoy the rush of the crowd and the scenery there (but no shopping since I’m not ready to drop €1000 at Fendi).
Also, I secured tickets to visit the Museo del Cenacolo Vinciano and see Da Vinci’s original Last Supper painting. The strict rules, dim lighting, and 35-person limit in the room of the painting all clarify how important the preservation of the art is.
I'm grateful that the sights in Milan are open and available, but I'm a little surprised that many shops are not. Right now, it is ferie in Italy, so many working folks are away on vacation. This is excellent for labor rights for Italians, but not as much for consumers when many shops, salons, pharmacies, and tobacco stores (which sell necessary stamps for permits of stay, not just cigarettes) are closed. I knew that Italians took their vacation seriously, but I didn't realize that this vacation can stretch from two weeks to a whole month, with some stores having signs saying they'll be back in early September. It's both fascinating and a little frustrating. I just wish Google Maps had updated information on which stores are closed, that's all.
To celebrate the week, I went out to Genoa for the weekend. I’m definitely taking advantage of the frequent and cheap train tickets all around Italy. Fueled on Genovese pesto, I traversed the old port of the city and stopped by the black-and-white striped Cathedral of San Lorenzo. I ended the day watching the sun set over the whole city in Spianata Castelletto, a truly picturesque experience.
On Saturday, I made a day trip to Sestri Levante, a nearby beachside town, where I spent the entire day going between lounging on the shores and floating in the turquoise waters.
Needless to say, this was a weekend of views for me. My feet are in indescribable pain from the step count I’ve endured, but it has been more than worth it. This week has been a tiring but beautiful introduction to my time in Milan, and I’m excited to do more than see the sights (but also to see more sights).
“The America-Italy Society of Philadelphia promotes friendship and cultural understanding between the Republic of Italy and the United States of America”
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