Trip to Liguria Before Pitti Uomo: A Personal Journey

A beautiful place, despite the fact that the weather let us down a bit and we only had sunshine for 3 out of 6 days. But once again, I understood the recipe for this life: say “yes” to life, don’t close yourself off, don’t be afraid to talk to people and meet them halfway, and everything will be fine. This trip was marked by this attitude, and I encountered so many interesting, deep, and beautiful things.

Of course, most of it will remain with me, but I’ll tell you what we did, recommend a few wonderful places, and share my emotions.

When I go to Liguria, I usually stay in Rapallo or Santa Margherita Ligure. I prefer the latter. I like the city more, and it’s closer to Portofino and the beaches where I swim. But this time we stayed in Rapallo. I’ll start with recommendations. Read reviews or descriptions and open the map. We had decent apartments, but nowhere was it mentioned that there was a railway under the windows. Can you imagine the noise when the train passed by?

We took a direct train from Milan to Rapallo, which takes about 2 hours. I love Italian trains, so it’s a good opportunity to just work and close work tasks. Or edit reels for you and prepare texts, at the very least. I also wrote this article on the train.

We stayed for 6 days, but my trip lasted 5 days because friends invited me to Florence for dinner. I already mentioned that even if there are doubts, life wants to give a gift, and I have to decide whether to accept it or not. I try never to refuse, and it always turns out that the gifts were wonderful. Just such a gift happened to me on this trip. Meeting interesting people, deep conversations, beautiful places, and a lot of laughter.

This was not a vacation trip for me; I continued to work, and every day there were calls, closing important tasks, and style consultations with gentlemen.

But what I never skip at the sea is morning runs and exercises. I also added a jump rope to my workouts, and now I have a full set. And imagine the feeling when you jump into the fresh sea in the morning, hot after a workout. Wonderful!

Then, with special gratitude, I return home, go to the supermarket, buy groceries for breakfast, and prepare it. After that, I get ready, and if there are no important tasks, I go out for a cup of espresso. I don’t drink coffee at home; for me, it’s a separate ceremony. And just yesterday in Santa Margherita Ligure, I went to a bar for a cup of espresso at the bar and started a conversation with the barista. We talked about this ceremony, that I call espresso a little life, and it’s very important to me. He confirmed and said that he has three children, a beloved wife, but when he goes for coffee, no one disturbs him. I also said that only in Italy is there such a culture, and I really like it. He asked why I don’t move, and I wondered.

After coffee, I always went to the beach, lay down a bit, read a book. I like this region because when you stay in Santa Margherita, you can walk a lot and see different beautiful views. The final destination is Portofino, where there are many beautiful people and places. Active rest is very important to me, and I create it for myself.

Speaking of places, I highly recommend having a wonderful dessert and a cup of espresso at Langosteria. It’s the beginning of Portofino. There’s also a wonderful beach there. I always went there for coffee, dessert, and spent an hour working. Great view, people, and mood.

We also had dinner at a beautiful place with a magnificent view of the sea and very tasty food, especially the shrimp. I don’t recommend the tiramisu there and was surprised that they brought limoncello at the end. But we were surprised not that they brought it, but that it was included in the price, and we paid 14 euros for two glasses. I also love tiramisu, and there it was made with focaccia instead of savoiardi. I’m not a big fan of such experiments and definitely won’t take it next time. But the service was excellent. It’s worth visiting once to see if you like it or not. The name is Capo Nord.

The bar that I was shown, and I then always went there to drink espresso and eat one amaretti, is on the way to one of my favorite beaches and is called Seghezzo.

And on the penultimate day, we went to Portofino to the restaurant Concordia. It was a very non-touristy restaurant, where everyone was local, and it was so delicious that I just dissolved in the flavors. Wonderful place. And then, when the owner’s friend sat at the piano and started playing, and the owner sang, it was something. The atmosphere they created there was incredible. Later everyone started singing, and I also joined and sang along with everyone to the song of my favorite performer and a person I am inspired by — Andrea Bocelli — “I Found my Love in Portofino.”