#a cono di fritto misto wandering around naples in the evening

[helianskies]

After reading Bitter Teeth and knowing you speak Italian, are there scenarios and stories you'd still like to explore having Italy as your background? And what are you favorite Italian historical periods to play with?

holy moly, months later she's finally decided to give you some sort of answer to a very interesting ask! :'0

i'm sorry i'm on my knees i'm grovelling cake i'm so sorry

i'll be honest, i love italy, i love italian, i love italians, and i would love to use it as a setting more often if it suits a fic - in a heartbeat. having been to a fair few areas now (Puglia you're next on my list bby i promise) there are such beautiful places i would love to use as backdrops, even for short works. a little romantic trip to Verona, a wet weekend in Venice, a sea swim in the marina in Naples across the bay from Vesuvius...

i think it helps with writing when you've been somewhere and can weave in personal experiences or even memories. i'd like to do it more in general, though i find my mind is not programmed easily for fluffy encounters haha. but i have fond memories of italy and i'd love to use them more as inspiration.

(what i'm trying to say is i suffered climbing up Vesuvius after a morning spent walking Herculaneum and i want someone - toni, south italy, whoever! - to feel my pain!)

anywho. as for historical periods... i dunno. as a student i only ever studied Risorgimento onwards, and very politically-based. i think the Renascimento in Florence would be interesting. i really loved visiting Davide and Venere haha (my duomo experience on the other hand...). and i'd love to learn more of Venice as a kingdom. Roman Italy i guess is a must, though i've already dabbled. otherwise, i'm not too sure....

though, when in Rome... i could send toni to walk around the Colosseum and Roman Forum omgggg... let him walk around and have his thoughts... a lil' character study...

i am never getting over leaving the Colosseum and finding a public water dispenser with sparkling water.......

OH THE TEMPLES! there were temples in the Forum! there's the Tempio di Antonino (e Faustina, ahem) and the Tempio di Romolo just across the way! i remember my mind working overtime with that nugget. the romespa was stalking me tirelessly on that part of my trip. and i'm yet to be cured!

anyways i hope that has in some way answered your question(?). i've not put much thought into the italies as characters themselves - i don't feel the same kind of draw to them that i feel with toni - but it would be curious to. i'd love to do more research into Venice during the times of the Ottoman Empire, in its sort of golden era. i'm sure i've seen a documentary or two, and i may even have a book... hmmm...

so many little threads to follow and not enough hours in the day, sadly, to do so :')

thank you for sending in the ask, it gave me an excuse to look back on some much loved holiday pics haha (and sorry again for taking my sweet time responding!) :)

#helia answers #helia's stuff #i really do have so many fond memories from my mini italian tour last summer #i could write so many little things in so many little quiet settings #a cono di fritto misto wandering around naples in the evening #watching the sunset from a beach bar in palermo #GRAFFA! #so much good food honestly i could just write a million mini food fics lmao #cheesy arancini/e #a proper panino #the pizza in naples to DIE for #and spaghetti alle vongole in that square in venice with the music in the distance.... #still wanna write someone almost dying on top of vesuvio tho ✌️