5 Reasons Why I Love Living in Irpinia (and why you'll love visiting!)

After nearly 8 years here, I'm still finding more to love about this undiscovered area of Southern Italy. Irpinia has so much to offer: wine tasting with the winemakers themselves, cooking classes with award-winning restaurants and nonnas, gorgeous views, and amazing history. But there's so much more. Here are 5 of my top reasons why I love living in Irpinia and why you'll love visiting.

Village Life:

• Church bells and sun-dappled streets. There's very little better in this world that strolling down cobble stone streets while the local church bells chime under the Southern Italian sun. I love seeing the men crowded around a table at their bar playing cards in their shirtsleeves in the summer and bundled in their sweaters in the winter. (Everyone has "their bar" in town and there's always more than one to choose from.) I love that the barista knows whether I want espresso or a macchiato in the morning just by my "ciao" when I walk in and will even pour espresso over ice for me in the summer without too much judgement. And did I mention the church bells. They seriously never fail to put a smile on my face.

Sense of community:

• Everyone belongs. I love that when I am a few dollars short at the butcher, he sends me on my way with my fresh, local wares knowing I'll be back shortly to pay my debt. I love that the local bakery knows my favorite sweets and will have me taste any new delicacies they've come up with. I love that my bread is freshly baked in the morning and that the local family I buy my vegetables from give me cooking tips on how to get the best from what they've grown. The feeling you're a part of something bigger than yourself is everywhere here. Which leads me to my next favorite thing...
  

Festivals:

• There is a festival for everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. The village patron Saint? There's a festival for that. Cavetelli pasta? There's a festival for that. Fusilli pasta? Yup, that too. Truffles, chestnuts, the end of harvest, the first new wines, corn on the cob and just about anything else you can think of? You guessed it, there's a shut down the streets, put up the traditional colorful lights in town, call a band, set off the fireworks and bring out the fair rides because we're having a festival.

Vegetables at my front door:

• Everyone loves sharing with family, friends, and neighbors. Just this morning, my husband's cousin showed up at the door with an overflowing bag of freshly picked fava beans (still in their fuzzy green pods of course) because he knows how much we love them to shell them and pair them with a few slices of fresh cow's milk cheese and our Aglianico red wines. Now that I'm typing it, a Greco or Fiano white wine would pair perfectly too. (Hang on a second while I go pop a bottle in the fridge.) But this morning was a reminder of how totally common of an occurrence this is in Irpinia, and how totally unbelievable this would be back in San Francisco or Los Angeles.

The smells:

• From freshly blooming flowers to fragrant sauces wafting through windows, the smells of Irpinia are everywhere. I mean, this one doesn't need much explaining because you already know there's nothing better than the smell of flowers or hay wafting through the air, adding an additional sensory experience to the gorgeous views Irpinia boasts. That is, until nonna's ragu hits your nostrils. That might just win.

The best part of all of this? You don't have to live here to experience it - let me help you plan a one-of-a-kind experience here in Irpinia. Fall in love with life in these small towns, with the winemakers and their families over lunch together, or with Anita and her mom as they instill generations of traditions in you during a hands-on pasta making class. Irpinia's bound to bring some of your fondest memories of Italy.

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