11 Ways to Live La Dolce Vita
Photo: Melanie Vaz/Unsplash
There’s an allure to Italian art, music, design, fashion, and food that makes us all want to live La Dolce Vita—the sweet life. That’s a life that revolves around passion, beauty, love, and food for the body and the soul. Here are eleven ways you can enjoy life like an Italian wherever you are:
1. Unschedule Time
You might already be an expert on this during and post pandemic. We all need time to unwind from the daily grind to refresh our minds and bodies. In Italy, long breaks after lunch are the norm, but that may not work in the typical U.S. work day. The best way I’ve found to take a break is to have at least one day a week that’s unscheduled. See what comes up, and be okay with doing nothing. On a recent unscheduled weekend, I got to spend two leisurely hours on the phone with a friend whom I haven’t spoken to in years. I also binged-watched a new TV series—something I never have time to do. When the weekend was over, I felt relaxed and ready for work on Monday.
2. Walk, Don’t Run
There’s a lovely Italian phrase called: Fare una passeggiata. It means: To take a walk, and after having a meal in Italy, it’s common to do so. Not a speed walk; not a walk to go anywhere in particular. Just a slow stroll that helps you digest, converse with people, and enjoy the scenery. In the Amalfi region of Italy, walking is part of everyday life since narrow, winding streets and ancient stone stairs are your only way to get around. Walking is one of the best exercises you can do. It’s weight-bearing and can also be aerobic if you’re climbing hills or stairs. During our time in Italy, we ate pasta and gelato every day, yet didn’t gain a pound. I attribute that to all the walking we did.
3. Go Small and Simple
Italians drive tiny cars and scooters and live in small apartments. Lots of money, luxury cars, and big houses—all measures of success in other countries like America—don’t seem to have the same appeal in Italy. Italians value the quality of life more than material possessions. They know that bigger doesn’t make you happier; it just makes you busier. Going smaller will simplify your life so you can spend more time enjoying it. Think of all the material things you have that require maintenance, upgrades, time, and attention. Perhaps there are a few you can do without in exchange for more quality time enjoying life.
4. Love Your Body
If you go to any Italian beach, you’ll see lots of people who seem to be quite comfortable with their bodies, no matter how tall or short, skinny or heavy, old or young. You’ll see elderly women wearing bikinis and big bellied men in Speedos. To think I was concerned about how I’d look in my bathing suit after eating a big pasta lunch was absurd! Eat the food. Walk on the beach. Swim in the ocean. Enjoy yourself wherever you are and stop comparing your body to an airbrushed model in an ad. If you fully own and love your body, you’ll be able to strut confidently on any beach.
5. Eat Slow
In Italy, a waiter will never bring you the check unless you ask for it. Why? Because it’s considered rude to rush someone through a meal. It’s not uncommon to sit for two hours over a multi-course lunch starting with an antipasto dish and ending with a chilled Limoncello, a liqueur made from lemon rinds. You might not be able to have a lingering lunch during your normal work day, but you can eat any meal more slowly which aids digestion and causes you to eat less. It also allows you to savor every bite of your meal, notice all the senses that are activated and have gratitude for all the people and systems involved in bringing that food to your table. And, while you’re at it, why not make family meals a time for eating and conversing, not texting or watching TV.
Here's a tip about food: The best Italian dishes are prepared with simple, fresh ingredients such as tomatoes, herbs and garlic. One of my favorite classic Italian dishes is Spaghetti Aglio e Olio, which is pasta mixed with sautéed garlic in olive oil. It takes less than twenty minutes to make and requires no recipe. Top it with fresh chopped parsley, red chili flakes, and grated Romano cheese, and you have a delicious and healthy meal.
6. Have Cake for Breakfast…Once in a While
This may seem like odd advice coming from a health advocate like me, but hear me out. You can’t live the sweet life without any sweets! A little sugar (not every day) in the morning with a hot cappuccino kick-starts your engines, from your brain to your body. Italian cakes are not overly sweet and not processed. As a first-generation Italian-American, eating cake for breakfast is not a new concept to me. The best cake I love having for breakfast is a cheese cake made from ricotta cheese, eggs, citrus fruit, and sugar. It’s delicious, filling, not too sweet, and a good source of protein and calcium. Remember, it’s not what you eat once in a while, but what you eat all the time that matters most.
7. Treat People Like Family
On a group tour of Pompeii, our guide referred to us as her “family” for the day. It immediately made me feel connected and protected, even though we were only with her for eight hours. Similarly, when we decided to visit a jewelry store in Sorrento that was owned by one of our American friend’s cousins, we were treated like family. They didn’t know we were coming, nor had met before, but they still dropped what they were doing and sat down and talked with us for over an hour. Of course, they offered us food, coffee, and wine! They might have had something more important to do at the time, but we’ll never know because they were totally present with us—two complete strangers who walked in from the street!
8. Live with Passion and Compassion
Whether eating, talking, loving, fighting, or creating, Italians do it with passione. Even everyday conversation is filled with passion by exuberant speech and hand gestures. This open expression of emotions is a healthy way to live and relieve stress. One day when we were waiting for a bus in the small fishing village of Praiano, we saw a car collide into a scooter going around a turn. The drivers got out of their vehicles and started yelling at each other. Hands were waving all around while the drivers accused each other of causing the accident. When the driver of the car noticed the scooter driver’s knee was bleeding, he stopped yelling for a moment and compassionately touched the scooter driver’s knee, asking if he was okay. After the scooter driver said he was fine, they both went back to yelling at each other! It was quite entertaining.
9. Stop and Smell the Wine
After a two-and-a-half-hour hike on The Path of the Gods overlooking the Amalfi coast, my husband and I got off the end of the trail and walked down into a small farming village. All we wanted was a cold drink and a bathroom before heading back. The town looked deserted except for a small café with an empty patio and a sign that said Crazy Burger. We figured it was American, but to our surprise, the owner was a local Italian serving traditional Italian food made from organic ingredients he grew in his own garden. He looked at us (all sweaty, tired, and dusty) and offered to make us a “light” lunch. Three hours later, we had eaten a feast—homemade pasta with fresh tomatoes and herbs, salad greens that were picked five minutes prior to eating, country bread topped with local goat cheese and olive oil, and his family’s homemade wine. And just when we thought we were done, he brought us a delicious liqueur made from a Sicilian cocoa bean. When we finally got up to leave, he handed us a full bottle of his wine with two plastic cups for the trek back! Now that’s what I call living la dolce vita!
10. Unleash Your Inner Artist
Exploring your creative side is not only fun, but it helps ignite your passion, gives your life balance, and reduces stress. Think of a creative activity you loved to do as a child or something you’ve always wanted to learn. Then take a break from your everyday routine and give it a try. Paint, dance, sculpt, write, bake. Do whatever makes your heart sing, which may even include singing! Italians love to sing. It’s not about having a great voice or perfect pitch, although many do. It’s about adding words and music to enhance the natural rhythm of everyday life. My father sang classic Italian songs, and when he wasn’t singing them, he was whistling them. That always put him in a good mood. My husband (who’s half-Italian) sings to me haphazardly, making up lyrics as he goes along. I’m pretty tone deaf, so I tend to hum a lot, but I always have a song in my mind. Right now, the one that comes to mind is “Mambo Italiano”—one of my Italian mother’s favorites.
11. Take a Trip to Italy (When it’s Safe to Travel)
Nothing helps infuse the spirit of la dolce vita into your own soul as a trip to Italy. Walk through the ancient sites, enjoy a slow and relaxing meal in an outdoor restaurant, visit a walled city, take a cooking class, go on a gondola ride, sit under the Tuscan sun, eat gelato every day. You’ll be sure to take a little bit of Italy back home with you. After one trip to Italy, I was inspired to get a motorcycle license and buy an eggplant colored Vespa scooter!
By Debbie Gisonni
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