the italy video

November 15, 2019 by Marisa Taylor in youtube, wanderlust

I’ve always kind of believed in magic. I think that’s why I’ve always believed in love. They’re both this intangible thing that give us this immense amount of purpose. Magic keeps you wanting to see more. Love keeps you wanting to feel more. In too many ways to count, I think travel combines the two. Making us crave the world and book flights, throwing sense, doubt, and whatever’s holding us back in our little worlds to the wind. Even if it’s to places that we’ve been a thousand times before, it keeps us coming back and thinking, “Well, let’s just see,” and somehow gives us an experience unlike the last. It fills us with a feeling that’s pretty intangible and indescribable, unless you were there yourself.

I wanted so badly to film everything for this video. The way the light looks in Florence in the morning, the way tourists pose in the water with the rolling hills of Cinque Terre in the background, the way the mountains of Northern Italy look when hanging on a rocky beach in Sirmione. I wanted to put you in my scuffed-up shoes, so you could experience the rush of this country and its never-ending, natural beauty. When I got home and looked at my clips, though, I felt like I fell short. At first, I didn’t touch them at all. But then, about a year or so later (Took me long enough, huh?) after some editing and all that, this video became everything I wanted it to be.

In all the shaky footage and imperfect clips of flowers, waves, and gelato being made, I kind of serendipitously captured this trip and what I see, feel, and love the most in Italy. Somehow, without really trying to, I threw you into the sunsets and such, and made what’s always been intangible and indescribable for me entirely the opposite. So, here’s the Italy video. I hope you love it as much as I do.

Love always, Marisa.

DESTINATIONS IN THE ITALY VIDEO: Milan, Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare), Florence, Sirmione & Lake Garda.

five spots in milan that are must-sees

October 28, 2018 by Marisa Taylor in wanderlust

It’s been a month. Yes, a month, since I got back from my latest trip around the lovely land of Italy. My best friend, Angela, and I left to explore the most beautiful country in the world on Sept. 19, and returned 10 days later with a sense of exhaustion and wanderlust that you can only experience when you travel. We booked our plane tickets back in March, and our Airbnbs only a few weeks before departing. After coming to the realization that our semester abroad in Florence was nearly three years ago, a trip back was long overdue. But, yeah. It’s been a month, and a sweet month of soaking in home — both on the East Coast, and the one that we visited on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

why florence is home

April 17, 2018 by Marisa Taylor in wanderlust

So, I'm finally going to try and put this wanderlust into words. For a while now, I've called Florence home. And the only people who seemingly have understood why are the people in my life that have traveled the most, or studied abroad, too.

Yes, I can see where it seems entirely crazy to call a city that I spent four months in almost three years ago my actual home. I grew up in Connecticut, and went to college just 30 minutes down the road from my hometown. But, there's something undeniably pulling me back to this place -- that in its simplest form is comforting, and kind of the same feeling as falling in the best love.