La Bella Citta`

and a glorious array of churches, the architecture of all the houses and commercial buildings is amazing, the stone-lined streets intricately woven through the city in a noticeable pattern . . . behind every edifice, every door, every face as I pass by is a story, one which echoes across this landscape, erasing time and any measure it has. La bella citta` per me e` Ruvo di Puglia. The beautiful city for me is Ruvo in Puglia.

Take a walk beside me, with me, see through my eyes as I amass the visual textures, the optic realities which inundate my mind . . . then my other senses are awakened too. It is a constant discovery for them all . . . scents of foods, distinctive and regional . . . the touch of the slightest wisp of air as I turn the corner of a little alleyway through the ancient remains of this place. Then as I run into a friend, who has lived in the enchanting town all her life, I share a two-sided kiss from cheek to cheek, a most affable greeting between friends and a cultural norm here in Italy. The people are warm, they are curious at first, finding not so many strangers as a regular part of life in Ruvo. The population is only 20,000, so imagine a tall. blond giraffe of a woman like me first appearing in wintertime there amongst the shorter, darker residents. I stood out, just a bit. But once you immerse yourself into their world, attempting to share the life of these people, speaking your broken . . .yet-to-be-mastered Italian, you are made to feel welcome and "at home". It is a gift of a place like Ruvo, the "smallness" enables a foreigner to find familiarity sooner, not later . . .

Now with my Italian skills blossoming a bit, at least my comprehension . . . I am able to find my way quite ably through this place, not feeling at all a foreigner in a strange new land, but rather, feeling the indelible quality of "home". Don't we all long to feel exactly that way, no matter where are feet land, no matter where the road takes us . . . don't we share some very common desires as people?? We share our humanity, our need to communicate, our need to embrace one another, no matter our differences. We share more as cultures mixing, than we know our distinctive separation. We want to learn, to grow, to discover . . . while we smile, love and laugh . . . those characteristics and behaviors are cross-cultural.

Finding my way around this little gem takes me under an hour . . . a nice walk, an morning stroll . . . a time to attend to errands, while I open myself to all the joy of this beautiful city.