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# la (mostly) dolce vita
- URL: https://fable.perfectsky.institute/la-mostly-dolce-vita/
- Published: 2026-08-28T15:25:49.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-28T15:25:49.000Z
- Author: fable

ciao belli!

i feel like one of those memes thats like “me after 1 day in italy: "ciao!"... me after 1 month in italy: "ahhh ciao belli! che bella vita, ah? *kiss kiss*” etc. its great. but actually maybe im living the sweet life too hard because i think ive developed a little pasta and bread baby. anyway, ive made sure to take lots of photos to share this week– let us recap the days.

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ive been enjoying myself at this volunteering gig. its my last week here and its been a really hot one so far. today was one of the hottest days in a while at 98f, and tomorrow it will be 101f– pray for me. however, we have also had a couple heavy rain and thunderstorms, and that has been really nice. the mosquitoes here are relentless.

on thursday, i watched vertigo in the little movie room here. friday i lived my farmer life moving piles of compost with a pitchfork. 

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8590.jpg)

then, later that day as i was working with some bamboo when i got a terrible splinter in my finger. it was deep and quite painful. after a couple hours of a repeated cycle of soaking it and trying to work through the skin, i finally was able to push the tip out enough that i could pull it out with tweezers. theres this tiny pair of tweezers that came with the mini wilderness first aid kit i brought with me and i have had to use it to remove a splinter twice this trip. im really glad i had it and i think its a travel necessity at this point. i also started working on making a dove out of willow branches. i think its coming along kinda cool but my host and the other volunteer had no idea what it was supposed to be… sooo maybe its an abstract interpretation of a dove.

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8836.jpg)

friday night we went to a little festival in a nearby town. it took place at this castle thing and it was gorgeous scenery. i ordered a yummy pasta with sausage and mushrooms (i know– i am a changed woman.)

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8631.jpg)

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8632.jpg)

 saturday, we went out for pizza and beer in another nearby small town. in this town i saw a really out of place digital vending machine thing where you could buy weed, cigarettes and maybe condoms or something? random. 

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8726.jpg)

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8739.jpg)

sunday, i rode into rome with the host who was making the 1 hour trip to visit some friends. i took this opportunity to meet up with valeria and eli! the girls from rome who i met at my last volunteer job in the tiny mountain village. in rome, where it was absolutely sweltering, we got some “3d printed vegan meat” burgers that eli had really been wanting to try. they did look pretty impressively like real meat– did not taste like real meat, though. then we got a gelato. i fucking love getting gelato. and we lied in this big, circular, fuzzy couch pit thing with a giant floating plant piece in the middle. it was pretty awesome. 

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my way back from rome on sunday was an… interesting time. the host was planning to go back at 2:30ish, but we had only just gotten there around 12, which was just not enough time to hang out. so, he said i could take the train back and he’d pick me up from the station. seemed like a good plan. after leaving valeria and eli, i was on the subway when the host texted me asking if i could take the train a few hours later than the one i just bought a ticket for, because he wanted to rest. (this was really annoying, especially because the train station is just a 15 minute drive away from our house, but he is 74 so im cutting him some slack.) this meant that either i had to buy a new ticket and stay in rome for another few hours (after already saying goodbye to my friends) or take my original train and wait at the train station for a while. i opted for the second option because rome was unbearably hot– i also hate waiting around. but i also remembered that i had committed to making a tiramisu that night for a dinner party we were having that started at 8– which would have left me almost no time to make it and chill it. so, attached to making this goddamn tiramisu, i made the interesting choice to just start walking from the train station to the house. gps said it would take a little over an hour– well, actually it said it would take 15 hours because there wasnt a sidewalk. but i took the road instead, of course. as im walking, i get the idea to hitchhike. hitchhiking is something me and other volunteers have talked about a good amount here in italy (some of them even did it quite successfully.) and every person id met in italy had so far been just the absolute nicest. so… i figured i might give it a go. i walked along the side of what was pretty much a highway, occasionally sticking my thumb out low and somewhat noncommittally. for about 10 minutes, no takers. then i noticed this guy in a shiny, white bmw give me a long look as he drove by. i seemed to recognize his car as i realized he had just drove by a moment ago coming from the opposite direction. did he come back to pick me up? then he kept driving past me. i didn’t think too much of it until about 3 minutes later i see him drive by from the other direction again. okay, he must be trying to help me, i thought. this time he looked at me and pulled into the nearest side road. he drove down it and then reappeared a minute later. he finally stops in front of me and rolls the window down. he looks something like mid-thirties, sunglasses and quiffed hair, what i can see of his face is expressionless. theres a noticeably long silence before he starts talking to me. “something-something- passaggio?” he says. “i don’t speak italian” i tell him. he then says something in broken english about parking the car, and turns back around down this side road. i considered following him but the road was long and i was uncertain about what he was doing or anything about this situation. it felt weird– thoughts of how many times he drove past before he actually decided to pull over, and the long pause and lack of expression on his face came to my mind. my gut told me to keep moving and leave this guy. i lightly jogged away further down the main highway and then crossed it to where there was a gas station. the gas station had nothing but a vending machine. as im staring into the vending machine contemplating buying a bottle of water for the rest of my journey, i see his white bmw drive by behind me in the reflection of the machine. for a while i just kind of stand there facing away from the road, hoping i hadnt just gotten myself into an undesirable situation. surely he isnt gonna come back, right? am i being weird about this? i proceed with buying a water and soon enough, i see his car in the reflection again. this time, he pulls into the gas station. i did not want to turn around. i stood there staring into the vending machine as i watched him stop for a second, then keep driving. theres a group of bikers gathered at this gas station and i contemplated asking one of them for a ride– but i figured they wouldnt speak any english– like most of the people id met in this area, and decided to keep walking. as i continue on the side of the highway, this fucking guy and his white bmw drive by from the opposite direction once again. this time he throws a napkin out of his window and yells something that sounds like “whats up?" (thinking about this later, i realized he must have been saying "whatsapp.") weirded out and confused, i just kept walking… this time with more slightly more haste. i make it pretty far on the road, maybe 10-15 minutes before i seem him drive by again. i pretend like i have no idea and just keep walking. i watch him continue down the highway and figured he got the hint at this point. i walk for maybe another 10 minutes when i hear the unfortunately now recognizable sound of his car coming from behind me, and sure enough, there he is again. “yep, this is definitely fucking weird” i thought to myself. he pulls over into this open area– or maybe a tiny parking lot, i dont know, right near me and throws another napkin. “my phone number” he yells. “why would i want his phone number?” i thought. nothing about this was making sense. at this point, i realized i couldn’t just ignore this guy anymore, and i had to do something about it. so i planned to walk up to his car and say “thanks, but i don’t need a ride anymore.” i started to walk up to his window when another car pulls into the lot. the white bmw guy starts driving away and goes back out into the road. the fuck? why is he avoiding me now? he almost immediately turns back around and into the lot again, which, thinking back on it now, seemed to have been conveniently timed to the departure of the other nearby car. he finally rolls down his window and said what he said the first time, which i assumed was asking if i needed a ride. i shook my head no and said “no, its okay, i don’t need a ride.” and kept walking. a couple minutes later, i see him drive past me– and finally, for the last time.

its safe to say i wasnt too keen on sticking my thumb out again. so i just walked and contemplated my existence for about another half an hour. it was hot, and the amount of space to walk on the side of the road seemed to be decreasing. i was feeling fine, mostly replaying that entire situation in my head; thinking about how close i was to considering getting in his car the first time, if he was really weird or if he just really wanted to help, if i had just almost gotten human trafficked or something. i still had about an hour to walk, and i wondered if i could look at a driver long enough to tell if they were a woman and then quickly stick my thumb out. i tried this on and off for about 5 minutes, when the amount of cars driving my way quickly became very, very few– so, i gave up. as i was walking, i made up a song to sing aloud about the guy in the white bmw and about begging for someone nice to take me, this kept me entertained for a while. many steps later, its finally about the time that i knew my host would be done resting– i was now just a 5 or so minute drive away. so, i called him and he came and picked me up. i laughed to myself in my head about having him come get me when i was just about 25 more minutes of walking away, but the rest of the way was incredibly steep and i realized how lucky it was that i didn’t have to walk it.

when i got back home, i collapsed onto my bed. i wanted to stay there and stare at my ceiling when i remembered that i wanted to make this damn tiramisu. i got up, and got started making it and promptly pretending like none of that ever happened. the tiramisu turned out great. the italians at the dinner party all stuffed their faces and praised me well. honestly? worth it.

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8792.jpg)

as i lied in bed that night, unable to sleep because of weird nightmares, i looked up and out of the window above my bed and saw the head of taurus looking straight down at me.

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8821.jpg)

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after what was maybe 45 minutes of sleep, it was back to garden work monday morning. i made myself a cup of italian joe (giu?) which fixed me right up to tackle the day. tuesday and wednesday were typical, beautiful days; pick figs, obsess over nature, stare at the moon, and pet sweet animals.

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8909.jpg)

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8875.jpg)

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8881.jpg)

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8886.jpg)

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8893.jpg)

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8459.jpg)

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8661.jpg)

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8858.jpg)

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8923.jpg)

thursday i managed to snap the kitchen faucet first thing in the morning. we had to tear the whole kitchen apart, take the sink out to replace it and then had to deep clean the whole thing and the walls behind where it was– it was a whole thing. whoops. 

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8961-1.jpg)

for work i started processing a giant tree limb that fell from a tree on the property during one of the storms. the wood smells so amazing and ive been delightfully sticky with resin ever since. i collected some of the pine needles to hopefully do something cool with and also started carving one of the pieces of wood. later that evening, the host had a life-long friend come over. he was old too, maybe mid to late seventies. we smoked weed and drank beer (and wine... and rum and cokes...) together. we had a lovely and never ending jam session– from the poolside to the chicken coop sunset bar, and a yummy dinner afterwards. it was this night i realized how similar me and the host actually are, and what a silly lil dude he is. i love toking up and jamming with him.

![](https://fable.perfectsky.institute/content/images/2026/08/IMG_8967.jpg)

mighty quinn

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coming up is a weekend of festivities; tonight we are going to an oktoberfest party, and tomorrow to an art exhibition which is apparently supposed to have a sick after party. then on sunday, my friends from rome are going to come visit me here. after that, its just one more day of work before im off to london. im super excited.

if youre reading this before youve decided what to make for dinner, make some pasta. mmmff.

byeeee<3