Rome? Naples? Milan? They’re beautiful, but if I were to return to Italy, I would once again choose my grandparents’ town: Montesano sulla Marcellana, in the Salerno area. There, I discovered my roots because Montesano is the town where my father was born.

Montesano is one of 15 towns in the Vallo di Diano that holds great and small artistic, historical, and natural treasures. For me, Italy is Montesano: it is mostly there that I feel part of a world. There are my grandparents, my cousins, my family: in one word, my roots. There I found the sincerest hugs and the most delicious food, like tomato pasta that only my grandfather knows how to cook! When I went to Montesano, I asked my father to tell me our family history, the origins of our last name. My research involved places, language, cuisine, and people.

I experienced every day as a celebration: long tables with relatives and friends, anniversaries, festivals. I still remember with enthusiasm the celebration of St. Peter, the town’s patron saint, on June 28 and 29. The procession, the stalls, the lights: it is the most heartfelt feast by the population and is undoubtedly an experience that still lives in my heart just as in my heart I have so many rituals and traditions that I learned in Montesano.

The Vallo di Diano is little known but deserves to be visited. It is a place to be discovered, starting from the Certosa di San Lorenzo in Padula, passing through the Grotte dell’Angelo in Pertosa, to Monte Cervati and the Valle delle Orchidee in Sassano. I was particularly fascinated by the historical center of Teggiano where I took part in “Alla Tavola della Principessa Costanza” (At Princess Costanza’s Table), a medieval historical re-enactment held every year in August. These are villages that fortunately come back to life thanks to those who return.