Australiano / Canadiano in Italia.

I met an Italian lady at a party in Vancouver the other evening, just a few days before embarking on this major expedition to trace my roots in the motherland. She told me something that I had to be aware of that might save my life in Italy. Trouble is, I've forgotten already what she said. Must be the damn jet-lag.

I recall eagerly inquiring as to whether it was something about the mafia, but she assured me it was something less sexy. I think it may have been something about the traffic, only I can't imagine what the fuss is on that front. I recall anywhere in South East Asia being a death-match on the roads, but Rome seems pretty chilled (I seem to get into more trouble jay-walking in Canada 'cause us Aussies grow up walking haphazardly across the streets without being fined).

This family trip has been a long time coming and it begun towards the end of a challenging year for my Mum. After living in Canada for the past few years, I was sitting in the CJSR radio station in Edmonton in February, when I received a call from my Dad telling me Mum had been rushed to hospital with a brain aneurysm. I dropped my life in Alberta and within a couple of days I was flying home. Interestingly, in all the rush, I managed to impale my left foot on a metal rod and ended up in the Edmonton hospital a few hours before flying out! My Mum and I were on opposite sides of the world and both in hospital for the first time since I was born...

Mum was lucky to survive the aneurysm. Most don't, or at least they don't get through without brain damage. I'll never forget walking into the ward and meeting her gaze for the first time in three years and seeing her astonished look, shaved head, bruised face and staples running across her brow. She was alone at home when the pain struck her. She had the foresight to realise it was more than a migrane headache and she manged to phone the ambulance before the pain overwhelmed her.

I spent the first part of the year back home as Mum recovered, while spending some time working on the family farm in North Queensland. And stubborn as I am, i decided once Mum was well I wanted to go back to Canada to pick up where I left off. But this time I headed to Vancouver to intern at a legal clinic. I had a month to make a stack of money before flying out so I got a job as a trade assistant on an open-cut coal mine shut-down project in the Hunter Valley for a month to help me save the coin. 12 hr days, 6 day weeks...character building...what an adventure. A story for another time.

My mother's side of the family are Italian immigrants to Australia. Our family name is Poggioli. We're from the villiage of Villa di Tirano in the region of Valtellina in the far north of the country. This is the trip of a life-time for Mum, who turns 60 in a few days.

I flew from Vancouver to Rome yesterday and met my Mum, Dad and little brother Andrew in the airport. This is the blog about my '09 trip to Italy, France, England and Spain - my first time to Europe. Thanks for reading this far.

MG