It's very easy to see the world through rose coloured glasses when
you are on holidays. It was easy to believe that life in Italy is perfect
when I was sipping wine on a loggia overlooking the rooftops of
Lucca to the mountains beyond or trying to eat an ice-cream before
it melted in the heat of the mid-day sun. Had funds allowed, we probably
would have put a deposit on the heap of stones in the Tuscan hills
being sold as a potential holiday home.
The writings of Niccolo Ammaniti are the perfect antidote for dreams
of La Dolce Vita. He writes about the places tourists don't visit, about
the type of people tourists don't want to meet. His dark satirical
touch reminds us that life isn't perfect, even in a country as
beautiful as Italy, that fortune doesn't favour everyone equally,
that love surfaces in surprising places.
And yes, I had rose coloured glasses, courtesy of TK Maxx, I was
very pleased with my designer bargain until I took them out of
my handbag on my arrival home to discover than they were
broken. So, literally, I am no longer looking at the world through
rose coloured glasses.