It’s easy to misjudge a country. You hear a lot, you see a lot and you imagine even more. Some of it is true but much of it isn’t and it’s up to travelers to get beyond clichés and discover what’s authentic. That’s even harder when the country is Italy and art, history, food and a thousand other things come to mind.

Before I arrived I was positive the streets were filled with soccer balls and Marcello Mastroianni lookalikes. It didn’t take long to realize I was wrong and over a decade to rectify all my misconceptions. I learned to accept Italy for its contradictionsand imperfections and discover a country I had never imagined. It requires curiosity and comfortable shoes to escape stereotypes and distinguish between misconceptions and reality but it’s worth the effort.