Add to List - #38 (Italy Edition)
Cinque Terre and a few writer announcements
How many times do people give you a recommendation and you say ‘Oh, really? Cool. I’ll add it to the list!’ and then you go away and do not add it to any list anywhere?
Well, I present you with Add to List: the Sunday newsletter containing small things that brought joy, evoked an emotional reaction or became some short-lived stability for me in the past 7 days.
Obsession
The hikes of Cinque Terre.
Cinque Terre: full of influencers and tutti turisti Americani but beautiful. Beautiful things become the paths trodden. Clichés are cliché for a reason. This place is gorgeous.
However, if you want to find peace amongst the scenic fishing villages, I would highly recommend visiting this place off-season and being prepared to walk. The best way to see the five villages is not by train or boat, but by foot (if you’re prepared to climb circa 130 floors a day, and don’t mind sporting your running trainers wherever you go).
Each section of the hike between the villages brings a new landscape, from rolling vineyards, to earthy, waterfall-filled woodland alongside steep, stone-based promontories. Each village besprinkles its terracotta charm against the deep blue horizon, beckoning you down to the buzzy, busy narrow streets for an over-priced cappuccino or some seafood pasta.
This was the perfect ending to my Italian adventure. I think there’s nothing better than long walks through nature with a close friend. The incline, the only deterrent to our conversation; the weather, the only deterrent to us spending more time in that turquoise water.
That said, amidst the craggy climbs, we did manage some floating in the spontaneous swimming spots we found en-route, often luckily stumbling across them at the exact moment the clouds rolled out outwards to make space for a moment of warm sun in our days. It felt like someone somewhere was on our side orchestrating the weather and turning this two-day hiking adventure into something of a masterpiece memory for us.
Oh, and the real highlight of the whole trip, was not the nature but was spectating all the boyfriends of instagram at sunset on Riomaggiore attempt to capture their girlfriends’ perfect post for the 1756th time. A source of great hilarity. I couldn’t resist my own shoot (though stopped closer to attempt 5).
Confession
I confess, today I am going to shamelessly plug a few things. These ones are for you, writers.
SUBSTACK SOCIAL - and I have planned our Substack Meet Up on 2nd October.
We’re very excited to be bringing this community together again, catching up with our Substack besties and welcoming some new friends into the fold. If you’re thinking about coming, or nervous about what it might be like you can read this brilliant review from the last one from
. I promise you it’s the loveliest bunch of creators you’ll ever meet. I can’t wait!
your substack co-hosts at the ready WRITER CALL OUT (RE-PRODUCTION)
On the 3rd November, I am involved in organising a night of short plays, prose and poetry all shedding light on reproductive rights at the Marylebone Theatre. This will be a ticketed event with proceeds donated to MSI Reproductive Choices and Fertility Network UK.
We are looking for writers submissions. All work will be performed at the event to our live audience and we will cast professional actors to perform the work selected. We are interested in narrative work that uses creative storytelling as a vessel for building understanding and a call to action. We are looking for work to explore the themes of reproductive choice in interesting and imaginative ways. Not limited to, but may include topics of: abortion; contraception; IVF, egg freezing and fertility treatments; health conditions such as endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, adenomyosis and/or premature ovarian deficiency syndrome.
Work must be unpublished. We aim to support and champion new writing. Submissions open until 6th October. For full details on how to submit, please visit our submission form, follow updates about the event on our social page, and you can purchase a ticket to the event here.
writers, we want your words!
Shook
My Italian Adventure is over.
Time flies when you’re eating pasta every day.
Book
At the Table by Claire Powell
I saw Claire at an ‘in conversation’ event at Daunt Books at the start of the summer and bought this book off the back of it. My TBR pile has climbed and climbed and I forgot to take it to Italy with me which I regret a little because I wish I’d started it sooner.
The kind of novel I love: microscopic attention on minute details which tell larger character stories. Brilliant dialogue, unravelling relationships, astute observations all crafted with thought, nuance and honesty. This one is seeing me through into cosy-girl autumn if I don’t finish it before it gets too cold.
Cook
The final pasta, the final gelato and the most refreshing lemonade I’ve ever drunk.
Cinque Terre was not the food highlight of Italy. Restaurants don’t have to try when tourism is so high and the places are so small. We ate well, but it wasn’t a patch on some of the other meals I’ve had in the past few months in the mountains.
Highly entrepreneurial locals had set up small drinks stations along the hikes between the biggest villages where I had possibly the satisfying fresh lemonade I’ve ever had in my life. Garnished with watermelon and fresh ice, it was a perfect tonic to a humid, cloudy uphill clamber.
I also had a fantastic seafood pasta one day by the port in Manarola (salted anchovies, Normandy butter and toasted hazelnuts) and of course, in Monterosso, my final gelato of the trip.
Can’t Stop Scanning
Sign ups for the upcoming Substack Meet Up. If you know someone that might be interested in attended, please share the link with them.
Forward Planning
Back to life, back to reality.
I don’t know exactly what this looks like, but that’s for me to start working out. Let the freelance existentialism re-commence.
n.b. If you wonder what I mean by ‘freelance existentialism’ you can read the original article where I coined it here.
Sad that you had to leave Italy, but happy that you're coming home to us all
Looking forward to Wednesday