Addio!

Not for long, just a week or so. I’m finally embarking for my Italian adventure. I’ve never been that far east, nor to the Mediterranean, so I’m quite excited. A few reasons I’ve loved Italy from afar:

The Borgias
I’m a history nerd. The Borgias are one of my favorite families, right up there with the Hapsburgs. The Borgia star was brief but bright and those dudes and dudettes made Italy their bitch. From the seat of the Vatican. They weren’t Italian, but Spanish. History did not treat them kindly, as one of their main enemies became Pope after Rodrigo Borgia, but them’s the breaks. At least Cesare Borgia gets the honor of earning Machiavelli’s respect, which got his avatar into The Prince. Showtime currently has a show called The Borgias. I’m a huge fan. It plays fast and loose with history, but unlike The Tudors, it keeps the proper feel of the time period. Francois Arnaud, who plays Cesare, is one of the smexiest dudes on TV. Anyhoodle, I look forward to checking out their stomping ground. 

Those Badass Romans
Rome had a ton of crazies. It also had a ton of geniuses. I love Roman history. It’s like a Godfather-inspired soap opera with less crying and more strangling. A few of the biggest badasses to march into Rome were Augustus Caesar (aka Octavian), Tiberius Caesar, and Gaius Marius. A beef I have is the assumption that ancient cultures were “dumber” than ours. While people back then might not have had the horizontal knowledge we do now, they had to be really fraking smart to not, I dunno, wake up to garrote around their throats. History is always cyclical, so we best stay connected with it.

Pompeii 
Walking among the ruins, through a city wiped out like a real-life Atlantis…*shiver*

Pizza
I’ve had a hankering for pizza lately. Which is strange as I’m not a big pizza person. Not Dominos crap either, but the good, non-junky stuff. Hmm, must be PMS. Good thing I’m going to Naples, the country that invented the damn stuff. Pizza, not PMS. 

Vistas
Italy. It has them.

I can’t ever sleep before a flight, which is why I’m pattering about now. I suppose it’s the vain hope I’ll sleep more on the plane, which never happens. I inevitably spend the first few days of any vacation on a pure caffeine rush. Wheeeee!