Live, From Belluno

We've officially moved to Belluno and are ready to embrace our mountain era

After almost 3 years of calling Trieste home (the longest Raf and I have lived in a single city since meeting in 2016), we said goodbye. Well, likely just a “see ya later” since our new home, Belluno, is only about a 2 hour drive away.

We’re sleep deprived, constantly covered in a layer of dust, and still finding broken things, moldy walls, and other fun surprises, yet we’re really happy. This apartment is our first home, one where we can’t call a landlord about a broken dishwasher (yes, we do have a dishwasher in Italy and yes, it is broken) and instead have to fix it ourselves, open our wallets, or both.

I’m sure most homeowners get this but I finally understand that we bought a project.

The view is certainly keeping us motivated

This doesn’t begin to unravel moving between regions in Italy. Regions operate to some degree like US states - they’re all part of a single country but have their own regional laws and way of doing things. For example, we didn’t know we needed a key card to throw away trash here, something I guess we took for granted in Trieste. We finally got the appointment to get our cards this morning so now that pile of trash we had accumulated while cleaning is finally tossed out.

What’s to Come

What this means at Mamma Mia Indeed is that we now have a new playground to explore. Our library of articles on Friuli-Venezia Giulia (where Trieste is) had grown quite large and now I’m ready to do the same for Veneto (where Belluno is). If you’re ready for the mountainous side of Italy, you’re in the right place.

But first, for those planning a summer trip to FVG, don’t miss out on:

• 9 Beaches in & Around Trieste

• Your Cividale del Friuli Travel Guide for a Great Day Trip

• Trieste’s Osmiza Culture & How to Best Enjoy It

• Your Udine Travel Guide for a Great Day Trip

• Gorizia Travel Guide: Your 3-Day Itinerary

• 11 Best Places to Visit in Friuli-Venezia Giulia

• Where to Stay in Trieste: 18 Great Hotels

• Barcolana: Trieste’s Own Sailing Regatta

• Trieste Travel Guide: 3-Day Itinerary

• 12 Best Things to Do in Trieste (From an Expat)

• 12 Best Day Trips From Trieste (From an Expat)

• 21 Best Restaurants in Trieste (from an Expat)

In addition to more destination and cultural guides on the website, we’d like to use this Substack as a place to talk about traveling speed and the beauty of not cramming it all in on a single trip. Your Italy vacation deserves more dolce far niente than most tend to give it.

We’ll talk more about how to decide where in Italy to visit and give some planning guides based on which airport you’re most likely to arrive to. I’m looking forward to sharing more tips about the lesser known side of Italy but also helping you to avoid spending too many of your precious vacation days commuting from one side of the country to another.

For now though, another wall needs painting!