Sally Hamilton always felt a deep connection to Italy, and now she’s sharing the amazing artisan creations of Le Marche with the rest of the world, as she tells Katie Wood
My parents were always devotees of Italy, but the fact that my mother decided that she wanted children after seeing little Italian girls beautifully dressed when she was 25 years old probably tells you that here was a country with a deep connection to me and to my family. Many years later she explained to me that they must have had a love of the Italian way of life in their blood, which they obviously passed on to me as I now live in central Italy.
My father also said that I would fall in love with Italy, but more than that I fell in love with an Italian too! I just wish now I had paid more attention in school to learning languages: I speak a strange language of my own, “Britalian”.
I moved to the Le Marche region in 2003 with my now ex-husband, after having fallen in love with the landscape. It’s real rural Italy, set in between the Apennine mountains and the Adriatic sea, a landscape of hilltop medieval towns, home-grown organic food, lovely wine, fields full of olive trees and sunflowers, and with the Sibillini Mountains
as an impressive backdrop.
And, of course, then there was the Italian sunshine and the lovely friendly people. The Marchigiani don’t realise what they have here in this forgotten corner of Italy, and even now, tourism is really only just getting going.
I was born in South East England. I studied graphic design, and worked for various design and advertising agencies, both in London and then freelance. When I moved to Italy I started producing websites to promote holiday villas in the area.
Six years ago this was a painfully slow business (literally) as it involved a dial up connection that got cut off for days every time it rained! Now, however, we have ADSL and it’s much easier to stay in touch with the rest of the world.
Read more in the October 2010 edition of Living Abroad Magazine
For more information on Selandaris
Italian Collection visit: www.selandarisitaliancollection.com
