My SYLE- from Australia to Italy

This year, I spent four months travelling through Italy, France, and the UK. The first two months (28 January - 3 April) were spent in Italy (Italia), to develop my Italian, learn about Italian culture, and connect with my family in Firenze and Bolzano.

I chose Italian as a language for three reasons. I love the sound of the language, I want to eventually understand Italian books, TV, and sense of humour, and I feel a personal connection to it, having heard my grandma and great-grandma speak it as a child. After hearing about Servas and the SYLE program through word of mouth (my grandpa is a Servas host), I became very interested in becoming a member, as this would allow me to stay with Italian Servas members, who would hopefully force me to speak Italian with them, however poorly, and absorb Italian culture from the perspective of a local, as well as a tourist.

This is very different to the trip I had originally been planning: to stay three weeks in Roma and Firenze, in youth hostels containing mostly English-speaking backpackers; which would not only deter me from constantly speaking, and improving at, Italian, but also give me the barest glimpse of a tourist-oriented Italy, not the authentic everyday Italy I was hungering for.
In November 2024, I was vetted and officially became a Servas member, a decision I believe has shaped me into a more worldly and compassionate person.

I stayed with eleven Servas Italia members in total, all of whom showed incredible kindness and generosity towards me. There is nothing quite like finishing a long day spent walking in a foreign city, only to be greeted by a lovely human being who has cooked you an Italian dinner and wants to hear of the day’s travels in Italian. Food, as many of you probably agree, is an integral part of Italian culture, and easily the biggest thing that ties my part-Italian family together. We make passata each year using handpicked tomatoes, and always look froward to eating struffoli and crostoli (chiacchiere), for Christmas.
I am no execution to my family’s long line of food-fanatics, and relished in serving up international dishes like ‘pollo al burro’ (butter chicken), ’torta di pastori’ (shephard’s pie), and ‘macaroni e formaggio’ (mac ’n’ cheese), to my hosts, as it was the best way I knew to communicate my gratitude for their hospitality and warmth.

Learning Italian was a relatively fun and easy task, compared to the droll hours I could have been spending at high school, puzzling over an unimaginative comprehension sheet.
In Roma, my host’s twenty-year old son was massively helpful in frequently interrupting my poor Italian with corrections that would enable me to be better understood next time. I am massively indebted to him, his family, Laura, Fillipo, and so many others for their service. Because of them, I saw a massive improvement in my ability to converse in Italian, even if I am still very much a beginner, with serious results only becoming visible towards the very end of my trip.

Combined with speaking at home with my hosts, I listened to the Michel Thomas Method, an aural only language teaching technique that was essential in keeping my brain in Italian mode while out of the house. I chose the aural-only method, as this is how humans naturally learn a new language; We learn to understand and speak the language long before we read and write it, and I wanted to treat Italian the same way. Along the way I saw some amazing cattedrali. Among the most spectacular were those found in Lecce, Trani, and Roma, but also impressive were the hilltop Sanctuario della Madonna dello Zuccarello di Nembro and smokily-lit San Marco di Venezia.
I also watched the preparing of (and then tasting of!) some amazing local Italian food I would not have necessarily had the knowledge or ability to seek out. This included Frittata di Spaghetti, prepared by the mayor of Amantea himself, enjoying Francesco’s unbeatable pasta carbonara on a cold day in Lauria Superiore, relishing Roberto’s ‘pane e pomodoro’, an Italian Summer classic, and sampling Fillipo’s luxurious assortment of Tuscan treats upon arrival in Firenze.

The list goes on. Upon returning to my small city of Adelaide, I reflected that this ‘viaggio’ has made me much more interested in the stories, food, history and complexities of all different parts of the world, as well as that of my own city as well, which I used to look upon as a boring assembly of buildings, and now perceive as a rich tapestry of stories, people, and cultural and scientific development.
Travelling with Servas Italy’s SYLE program has also inspired me to want to reflect even an once of the generosity demonstrated towards me during my cultural/language exchange in their beautiful country, which I am oh so eager to return to soon.
I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to my Servas SYLE hosts, who opened up for me so many opportunities and took me on a multitude of fun adventures despite working full-time and/or as parents: Filippo in Toscana, Chiara, Pietro and their incredible sons in Lombardia, and Laura, Alberto, and Nicola in Piedmonte. Thank you for the Mickey Mouse book, day trip to the lake, dairy farm visit, snow walk, boar avoiding, English lesson, and swimming. Most of all, thank you for organising me to go to two Italian schools.

I had such a great time soaking up those opportunities, and learnt much from them, besides just history and maths (the structure is very different from Australia!). I would now like to thank all of my Servas hosts from the bottom of my heart, as well as their partners, siblings, children, grandmas, extended family, and friends, for their love, care, and peace.
You all treated me like another member of the family — I never knew such hospitality existed. You are all such amazing people: (In order) Alessio, Giovanna, Francesco, Antonio, Rosa, Francesca, Roberto, Revan, Marta e Enrico, Claire et Vincent, Gaëtan, Francesca.
Thank you so much Raffaella Rota for organising so many of my stays and bringing my lofty dream to life. You are undoubtedly the most super person I know. Please understand how much good you are doing for Servas.

Arrivederci. (Mi scuso se ho fatto un errore in italiano).

Miles Barson, Servas Australia