North-West Italy Roundtrip 2011

ROUNDTRIPPERS IN BIELLA: A FUNNY LIFESTYLE EXCHANGE
One day with eight rotaractors from all over the world
by Prisca Rolando
photo Vittoria Marchi/Marta Pianoforte/Clara Tosetti

I woke up in the morning Sunday the 20th and it was raining. Nothing strange, just the typical weather in Biella in this season.  A pity, I thought.
The meeting with the roundtrippers was at midday and at midday the sun was shining. I couldn’t believe it!
Our first destination was Oropa, to have a good traditional lunch at the bottom of the mountain. We were worried about how to explain them what polenta was, but we realized it was not necessary, they all eat it with relish and of course appreciated it!

To digest lunch we had a walk in Oropa, to see the sanctuary with the black Madonna even though nobody knew why she is black, and to revert to childhood playing with the snow even if it was a new one for somebody.
We spent the rest of the afternoon in Biella, wandering up and down the city centre, but unluckily time is a hard master and we had to give up visiting piazzo, the old part of the town, and ricetto in Candelo, a medieval village. However everybody was tired and eager to go home to rest before dinner.

At night the disco was ready only for us. The best way to have a second wind is to enjoy and I’m confident we managed to!
I’m not sure Aline, Sarkis, Kenia, Nika, Chris, Johnny, Anastasia and Berk will remember all our names, but  they will not forget this beautiful experience and some funny Italian, piemontese and made up words even if they will probably not gesticulate saying them as us do.

Thank you:

BERK GURCAY (Turkey)
CHRIS LEE (Canada)
JOHNNY CAMPION (Ireland)
KENIA ZAMARRIPA (Mexico)
ANASTASIA GORSHKOVA (Russia)
ALINE DO CARMO LUZ (Brasil)
SARKIS KHEDERLARIAN (Lebanon)
NIKA ANZEL (Slovenia)