ITALY
08/2017 – 07/2018

Thanks to my job I had the opportunity to live and work in Verona in Italy for one year. It is located in the beautiful area of Veneto in the north of Italy, placed between the foot of the alps and the valley of the river Po.

It was an amazing but though a challenging year. Between working in the railway depot and going back to (language) school, I focussed on keeping up my combat sports training, and gathered mile by mile on roads and tracks to reach even the furthest stadiums of the country between Bari and Torino.

Even though it’s some years behind me now, I still miss the country – the language, the people, the food, the way of life. When every weekend felt like a little holiday.
Italy is definitely a special place on earth.

Italia, tu mi manca!

Besides the time in and around Verona I also spent a lot of time traveling all over Italy. Not only to visit and portrait football stadiums, but as well to visit landscapes and places which were unknown to me.

One of these trips brought us to the small village of Sant Anna di Stazzema, located in the hills above the town of Lucca in Toscana.

At this place on August 12, 1944 german soldiers committed a massacre when they killed up to 560 people, the youngest victim at the age of 9 months.