My CurioCity: Susan Van Allen, Summer Love, & Pickpockets
Storytrail spoke to travel writer Susan Van Allen, author of “100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go,” about Roman romance and bus thieves. For more curious stories from around the world (and to win a trip to Rome), visit www.storytrail.co:
In 1976, 19 –year-old Susan Van Allen of New Jersey took her first trip to Rome. Her Italian relatives were eagerly awaiting her arrival, and in a cunning move to carve alone time into the guaranteed days of no escape from the vice grip of foreign family, she told la famiglia a little white lie: that she was arriving three days later than her actual arrival date.
Traveling the most affordable route possible, Susan flew to Switzerland, then took an Italy-bound train, where she found herself in a cramped compartment car wedged between a boisterous Italian family reeking of salami, and a grimy young backpacker on his way to the Italian army reserve.
Shouting over the raucous Italians beside them, Susan spoke in broken Italian to Lucciano, the backpacker, until they reached Roma Termini, Rome’s main railway station.
“He asked me to meet him at the train station the next day at 6pm. I said yes because I didn’t want to be impolite, but I wasn’t sure if I’d actually go,” Susan remembers.
“I got to my pensione (guest house) from the train station, and was put in a room with these Australian girls. They’re all complaining about the Italian men, saying ‘Oh it’s so awful out there! We can’t even go out!’
“In those days, Rome was a jungle. It was not uncommon for a lady to walk along the sidewalk and suddenly feel something on her bottom. Even for me, as a theater nerd from New Jersey, I was not the girl that people looked at, but all of a sudden, I was being attacked with cat calls, kissing calls, ‘Signorina, signorina!’ from the men in the streets. It was the first time I’d ever been pinched!
“The Australian girls invited me to dinner saying ‘We have to stick together!’ and I figured I should go with them rather than meet Lucciano.
“So I’m walking with them to dinner, and we walk pass the train station. I see this guy — this man — standing there, wearing a tight, pressed khaki army uniform, his dark hair washed and slicked back, his olive skin glowing. It was Lucciano.
“I immediately said goodbye to the Australian girls, to their horror.
“Lucciano took me by the arm on that sizzling summer night, and there I was: the theater nerd from New Jersey walking along with Al Pacino. He led me by the Piazza Navona and then the Roman Forum, where we took sips from a straw-wrapped wine bottle he had hidden in a paper bag.
“He spoke barely any English and my Italian wasn’t very good, so the only way we could communicate was through Beatles songs. It went from ‘Can I Hold Your Hand?’ to ‘If I Fell in Love with You.’ There was also some ‘Hey Jude’ thrown in for good measure.
“I had to get back to my pensione by midnight, so he took me back and we said our goodbyes. He had work for the next few days and I was on my way to college, so that was the end. I didn’t know what my address would be, so he wrote down his and I stored it in my wallet.
“We thought we’d be in love forever.
“The next day, I took Bus 64 from Roma Termini to Vatican City to see the Pieta at St. Peter’s Basilica. This bus is legendary for pickpockets. And because I’m the most naive, wide-eyed girl ever, I boarded it with a see-through straw bag.
“When I get off the bus, I reached inside my bag and…I have no wallet. I remember being jostled. I remember the bus being crowded. I remember Lucciano and his olive skin and me putting his contact information in my wallet and the first thing I think is…I’ve lost his address.”
Susan searched for Lucciano, but never found him. From time to time, she thinks about that sweltering evening in Rome, where the art of romance has been refined over centuries.
“There’s flirting in almost every interaction,” said Susan. “There’s the waiter putting his hand on your back when he pulls out your chair. The wink when he serves you your cappuccino. The stares on the street. And the suit tailoring — oh my.”
For the past 26 years, Susan has been married to a nice Jewish boy from Queens. Sometimes she asks him to stare at her like an Italian.
For a vacation full of cat calls and winks refined over thousands of years (minus the pickpocketing), visit www.storytrail.co or click here (LINK: www.storytrail.co/share-your-way-to-rome) to enter to win a trip for two to Rome, including plane tickets, a hotel stay, and dinner at a Michelin star restaurant.
This story is part of the Storytrail “My CurioCity” series. At Storytrail, we love discovering curious stories about the world’s best cities and sharing them with you in our fun little videos. Visit www.storytrail.co to watch them and enter to win a free trip to Rome! To get in touch, contact Abigail Levner at abigail.lever@gmail.com.
Susan Van Allen’s articles on Italian culture and travel have been published by CNN.com, National Public Radio, Town & Country, AFAR, and more. She has also authored several travel books, including “100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go” and “Letters From Italy: Confessions, Adventures And Advice,” and worked as a staff writer for the Emmy-winning sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond.” You can enjoy Susan’s Italy expertise by joining her on one of her small group tours or by following her on Twitter @100placesitaly and Facebook.
