A Slice of Heaven in the Mediterranean

Arianna was embarking on the journey of a lifetime. She was travelling to Rome, alone. It’s not what she had intended. Her best friend Chiara was supposed to be there, sitting beside her in the airplane, but something came up, or rather someone by the name of Nathan. She couldn’t be mad at her friend for wanting to use her travel money for her honeymoon later in the year. Arianna would have to make the best of it on her own. It would be her own Roman Holiday.

Leaving the airport at Fiumicino, she took a cab to get to downtown Rome. Her hotel was near the Piazza Navona. The taxi driver was nice but confirmed the stereotype that Italians drive fast and don’t always respect stop lights. At least she made it to the hotel in one piece.

The first thing Arianna did when she arrived in her small but comfortable hotel room was open the shutters to admire the view. She could see the church she had passed on her way to the hotel and a café right across the street. It was a noisy morning, with people bustling to work and tourist walking around to see all the sites. She loved it.

She decided to go exploring, leaving her guidebooks behind. This way, she would be able to discover Rome’s secrets at her own pace. She started walking around and decided to follow a group of tourists down a narrow lane, curious to see what they were searching for. As she turned the corner, she saw the magnificent fountains of Piazza Navona. She admired the beautiful piazza, surrounded by white buildings, cafés and restaurants with tables pouring out onto the square.

She ventured around the piazza and found a gelateria. Just the perfect thing for a hot summer afternoon in Italy. She reached for the door and started to pull it open just as another customer was coming out, looking behind him at someone. He walked right into her, losing his handle on his cone in the process. It landed squarely on Arianna's chest.

The man, a local from what she could gleam, looked as mortified as she felt. She had wanted to cool off, but this was definitely not what she'd had in mind. Especially not in front of a handsome man like him, with gorgeous blue eyes, the colour of the Adriatic. She felt her cheeks growing warmer from his intense stare. She was completely lost in them for a moment before realizing that he was asking her a question.

“Scusi Signora. Are you ok?”

It took a moment for her brain to process the question before she answered that she was fine. It took some convincing, but she was finally able to extricate herself from the man's grasp. He kept offering to buy her a gelato, but all she wanted to do was get away as quickly as possible. She turned on her heal, still hearing him mutter "scusi", and headed back to the hotel. She thanked her lucky stars for having chosen such a centrally located hotel.

Once she freshened up, changing into a beautiful yellow summer dress, she decided to go exploring some more. It didn’t take long for her to get lost. She managed to find the Pantheon. Some time later, she passed by the Trevi Fountain and threw a coin in for good luck. Hopefully it would improve and there would be no more gelato incidents.

Jet lag was starting to take its toll and she headed back towards the Tiber to find a nice restaurant for dinner. She chose a restaurant that was already filling with locals. As a general rule, she tried to avoid the tourist traps that served North American food at exorbitant prices. The restaurant was simply decorated, with yellow walls and pictures of Italian scenes hanging on the walls. All the tables had checkered tablecloths. The waiter led her to a table outside, where she could people watch to her hearts content and watch the sun slowly dip below the horizon. This was the perfect setting she had envisioned for her thirtieth birthday.

She asked the waiter, Tomaso, many questions about the menu that was only written in Italian. She wanted to try typically roman dishes and opted for cacio e pepe pasta. It was exactly as Tomaso had explained, a simple dish of pasta made with pecorino romano cheese and pepper. But there was nothing simple about the taste. The pepper brought heat and the cheese added a lovely saltiness to the pasta.

Seen as today was her birthday, Arianna could not resist ordering the Italian version of a chocolate cake, torta caprese, with a glass of prosecco. As she was about to dive her fork into the divine looking cake, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned, to her surprise, to find those same sea-blue eyes she had seen earlier.

“I see that you weren’t too badly scarred from earlier.” He said in perfect English.

“Just my pride. I’ll recover”, she smiled up at him.

“I’m terribly sorry again. Not the way I usually like to introduce myself to a beautiful woman like you.”

He smiled and she felt a shiver run through her entire body. He looked even more handsome, with a dimple on his left cheek.

“My name is Alessio.” He held out his hand for her.

“I’m Arianna.” She could feel herself blushing again.

“Are you alone” he asked, looking at the empty seat in front of her.

“Yes.”

“May I?” He pointed to the chair.

“Yes, of course”, she said, sounding breathless.

“Are you here as a tourist or for work?”

“As a tourist. It’s my first time in Italy. I’ve been planning this trip for my thirtieth birthday for years now.”

“When is your birthday”, he asked, looking genuinely interested in her answer.

“Today, actually.”

“Happy birthday”, he said and reached out for her hand, pressing a light kiss to it. The air around them felt electric.

“I’m even more sorry for the gelato now”, he said, laughing.

They spent the rest of the evening chatting and getting better acquainted. Arianna felt like she had found a kindred spirit in Alessio. He was kind, passionate and funny. She never thought she would meet a man that could easily become her best friend and possibly more here in Rome.

As they walked along the Tiber, admiring the sunset over the Vatican, he held her close. They stopped for a moment to admire the view. Alessio turned her towards him and gently pressed his lips to hers. She felt like fireworks were going off inside her head. Arianna had never felt so connected to a man. Her knees buckled and her held onto her more tightly, deepening the kiss.

Alessio walked her back to her hotel. He gave her his number and planned to meet up with her the next day for breakfast. He gave her one last kiss before leaving her alone in the hotel lobby in a daze. She really was having her Roman Holiday after all. But the reality of her situation was not far from her mind. She would be returning home in a few weeks.

Arianna didn’t know what the future would hold for her and Alessio, but it didn’t scare her. She wanted to enjoy the present fully and hold on to these amazing moments as long as she could.