Verona
Verona is a sweet little town just an hour inland from Venice. A sweet little Italian woman named Rita Martini hosted us and made us feel right at home. We talked at length about her Servas experiences all over the world including exotic destinations like Madagascar, Rio de Janeiro, India, and Poland. Rita had most recently returned from a three-week journey through Iran. She spoke very fondly of everywhere she has ever visited and almost every Servas member she has ever encountered. We discussed the complexities of such a philosophically distinct peace organization like Servas. The idea is to promote peace by absolving ignorance; personal dialogue between people from different sides of the world is meant to foster international compassion. Some dense people, though, are just looking for a free place to sleep.
Something about our time in Verona conjures up the adjective “lovely.” Daylight hours were spent enjoying the city. There is an ancient Roman theater designed by Palladio, a balcony supposedly used by Shakespeare’s Juliet, a 1,000 year old whale rib, and a lot of skinny cypress trees. At night we ate and drank with Rita. She is a nurse and a teacher who works very hard in a country short on both. I’d like to think she enjoyed our company as much as we enjoyed hers.
Now off to our last stop in Italia – Milan.
Tags: Travel
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