In 2008, Rebecca Bricker’s son moved out of their Altadena Craftsman house to go to college. Single mom at mid-life, facing the empty nest. You know the story.
But that’s not this story.
Bricker, a former magazine writer and columnist for People Magazine, sold the house and moved to Italy for a year.
Bricker writes about her odyssey in her new memoir, Tales from Tavanti.
“It had always been my dream to someday go live in Europe and write about it,” Bricker said. ” I had traveled in college, I had done a year at the University of Edinburgh and I just hoped to go back and live there again. I guess about eight years ago I started scouting locations.”
She told her son that, once he left home, she’d be right behind him with her passport. She hadn’t planned on selling the house, though: “My idea was to rent my house, because I loved my bungalow, and go off and travel for a year, maybe teach English,” Bricker said. But in 2008, when the housing bubble was starting to pop, she decided to let go of the house quickly: “In the end it was the perfect solution because I was free and clear.
Her house closed on Sept. 11, 2008, and within days she was on a plane to Italy. She returned in December, and applied for an extended visa to stay there. “Italy just seemed to be a warm, inviting place,” Bricker said.
In June, 2009 — with just three duffle bags, a carryon, and some boxes of books — she moved to an apartment in Florence along the Via Tavanti, and stayed there for a full year.
If it sounds idyllic, it wasn’t: “It was Italy gone wrong within about three weeks,” Bricker said. “The Under the Tuscan Sun fantasy just evaporated, but the writer in me kept saying, ‘we’re staying — this is great material.'”
by Timothy Rutt
But that’s not this story.
Bricker, a former magazine writer and columnist for People Magazine, sold the house and moved to Italy for a year.
Bricker writes about her odyssey in her new memoir, Tales from Tavanti.
“It had always been my dream to someday go live in Europe and write about it,” Bricker said. ” I had traveled in college, I had done a year at the University of Edinburgh and I just hoped to go back and live there again. I guess about eight years ago I started scouting locations.”
She told her son that, once he left home, she’d be right behind him with her passport. She hadn’t planned on selling the house, though: “My idea was to rent my house, because I loved my bungalow, and go off and travel for a year, maybe teach English,” Bricker said. But in 2008, when the housing bubble was starting to pop, she decided to let go of the house quickly: “In the end it was the perfect solution because I was free and clear.
Her house closed on Sept. 11, 2008, and within days she was on a plane to Italy. She returned in December, and applied for an extended visa to stay there. “Italy just seemed to be a warm, inviting place,” Bricker said.
In June, 2009 — with just three duffle bags, a carryon, and some boxes of books — she moved to an apartment in Florence along the Via Tavanti, and stayed there for a full year.
If it sounds idyllic, it wasn’t: “It was Italy gone wrong within about three weeks,” Bricker said. “The Under the Tuscan Sun fantasy just evaporated, but the writer in me kept saying, ‘we’re staying — this is great material.'”