Malta

If three years ago, someone had told me that three years later I would find myself living on an island, in a house steps from the sea, driving through the streets of Malta aboard a 1996 Suzuki Samurai with my cat Bagunça, I wouldn't have believed it. And that at one point I would have transported my 100 kg leather sewing machine from Milan, arranging it in the living room with traditional Maltese tiles, it would have truly seemed like science fiction to me. A too beautiful dream and not remotely achievable, considering the life I led in Milan.

I had a steady job, one that many would dream of having, a home, friends, and a boyfriend, but I, since I was a child, dreamed of moving to an island and having my own small workshop. I imagined it in a quiet place near the sea, where time flows slowly and away from the frenzy of the city. This dream in the drawer unexpectedly came true at the venerable age of 40. A dream like the one when you are asked: “What would you like to achieve in life?" you don't dare to answer or those wishes you express timidly when you see a shooting star.
What seemed like the plot of my favorite movie has now become a reality. Scene after scene, a new script of my life has slowly taken shape, starting in 2020, when one beautiful day, at the dawn of the pandemic, I set off on a trip to Singapore where I was supposed to stay only a month but where in the end I lived for more than a year... but that's another story.

Back in Italy, after once again appreciating Asian culture, always a great source of inspiration in my creations, I found myself at a crossroads: to return to my Milanese life or to embark on a new adventure, elsewhere and alone. The answer was already inside me even before asking the question. Starting somewhere else yes, but where? So, not having very clear ideas about the destination, I took out the map and started observing the various countries by exclusion. The requirements were: a mild climate all year round, not too far from Italy, and an international environment where I could practice my English. So the eye fell on those islets off Sicily and I decided to give it a try. I bought a one-way ticket to Malta and have been living here for over two years now. I must admit I left completely unprepared. I barely knew that the Maltese language existed and that it was one of the countries with the most cultural contaminations I had ever seen. An inevitable Italian influence given the proximity to Sicily, mixed with English culture inherited from British colonization, with the addition of a strong Arab accent that stands out in the Maltese language. A fascinating combination, that literally left me speechless when I first visited La Valletta and the fortified Three Cities: Birgu, Cospicua, and Senglea, built by the Knights of Malta. The color of the ancient limestone buildings and the baroque domes that stand majestically on both the islands of Malta and Gozo transport you to a distant world, where time seems to have stopped. Among the streets of the villages, you breathe an air of history that tells of dominations and battles that have taken place in this piece of land with a strategic position. All this immersed in the blue of the Mediterranean Sea makes the setting even more suggestive. The workshop of my dreams is coming to life in this splendid context and it's time to appreciate with gratitude the answers of the Universe. This place has a deep meaning for me, almost mystical because it is where I found myself again when I thought I was lost. It is the place that gave me a second chance in a difficult moment of my life and offered me everything I have always desired for a long time.

Thank you, Malta!