Day 1 - Getting To Bologna

# Campari & Soda: 3, # Gelati: 0

I'm at the airport, drinking my first Campari & soda, wiating for my flight to Milan.  Today is the first day of a holiday I've been planning (and boring people talking about) for years.  I'm going to be studying Italian intensively for a month, then spend a week hiking in Puglia, 2 weeks in Sicily (1 week hiking then 1 week touring) before finally spending a week in Calabria with some of my cousins.  

I'm going to be studying Italian at the Academya Lingue.  Each day we have 2 hours of grammar & vocabulary study, followed by 1 hour of conversation in a local bar having a restorative drink, followed by 1 more hour of study - this time more on cultural aspects.  After all that, once our brains start leaking out of our ears, we break for lunch.  The afternoons are free, although the school offers optional excursions - such as visits to nearby cities or cooking classes.  After 4 weeks of all this my Italian should be good enough to not only ask for directions but understand the answer!  

I'm renting a one bedroom apartment in Bologna, in the historic city centre, near the school.  The school gave me a list of people, with email addresses, to contact to find a place to rent.  One person I contacted said he normally rents his place out via Airbnb and I could do that if I wanted to.  However, if I was OK with renting directly from him, I could have it for a 20% discount.  I've paid him 1 week's rent up front via bank transfer and I'm to give him the rest, in cash, when I arrive.  Fingers crossed this is all legit and I don't front up in Bologna out of money and nowhere to stay.  Or find I've rented a completely different place to the one on the Airbnb website.

After cramming my head full of Italian I'm heading south to Puglia at the start of May.  I'm doing this hike, Puglia Highlights, from Matera (which is actually in Basilicata) to Lecce.  This is just a baby hike.  Most days are less than 10km, but this one is less about the journey but the destinations.  I'll be visiting several spectacular villages as well as having a couple of food tastings.

After this, I'm heading to Sicily.  First off I'm spending a few days in Palermo before hiking from Palermo to Agrigento along yet another Via Francigena.   This is a serious hike, with almost all days more than 20km each.  I've never used this company, the Natural Adventure, for supported hikes before.  I'm curious about what they'll be like.  Their estimated times for this hike are frankly absurd.  They predict that one 24km day with 800m of ascent and about the same of descent should only take 5 hours!  I think 7 hours, if not 8, is rather closer to the mark.

After the hike I'm going to visit Ragusa for a few days, then Siracusa before heading to Reggio di Calabria via train.  Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, i.e. when I was a teenager, we visited the rellies in Italy.  We took the train from Calabria to Trapani on Sicily's west coast.  I remember how they divided the train into pieces and drove it onto the ferry to cross the straits of Messina.  I'm going to do the reverse trip.  It would be actually faster to take a different ferry but I want to relive the experience.

My final few days will be staying with my cousin Rachele in Lamezia Terme.  By then my Italian should be good enough that we can communicate!  I wonder how many cousins I'll get to meet and if I'll recognise them.

My trip ends with a crazy long train ride from Lamezia all the way to Milan (about an 8 hour journey).  I thought of flying but the train trip will be one last opportunity to see all of Italy.  

I wonder if the cats will remember me when I finally get home.