Scooter engines, clinking cups and a dozen voices talking at once reach you before the street itself comes into view. Gestures fill the gaps between words, every region has its own accent and its own recipes, and celebrations seem to appear around every corner.
Under a mostly Mediterranean sky, summers are hot and dry, winters are mild in the south and colder and damper up north, and the Alps keep a mountain climate of their own. Spring and early autumn suit wandering best. Through a Local Friend, a door you would not have knocked on swings open, whether it leads to a family kitchen or a village festival.
