No matter where you’re, if you want to see what a country really is like, you have to leave the highway, forget about the city and turn into a country road of your choice: stop in a village and check out the real deal. I had the luck to get to know the US this way, since I always stayed with one of my dearest friend’s family and they live in a village near the Adirondaks, off the tourist track.

There, I spent time enjoying home cooking, people’s friendliness (and, at times, surprise at seeing an Italian who was actually from Italy and not from NY City) and learning about local history and tradition. I was brought to local antique fairs and drank in small, dark bars, which probably last saw someone from the Old World before the Independence. It was amazingly beautiful and, when I eventually visited cities and encountered idealized America, the one we get from TV and tourist brochures, I loved it, but I was glad it wasn’t going to be the only image of the US I would bring home.