3 Lessons Learnt from Naples, Italy 🇮🇹

Penelope Zakou

27 Feb 2024 • 3 min read

Sitting in this tiny Ryanair plane, headed back home, I can’t help but think of all the unexpected lessons I learnt whilst roaming the grimy, raw, seductive streets of Naples... and I'm eager to share three of the lessons learnt on this trip and three questions I’ve dared to ask myself after everything I witnessed.

♥️ Lesson 1: Love Hard

Neapolitans love so hard that you see people of all ages in loving embrace and stealing kisses from their lovers throughout the audacious streets of the historic city.

Neapolitans love so hard they have “the suspended coffee” tradition, intended as a gift to the next customer which I greatly appreciated as an unexpected recipient of this generosity!

Neapolitans love so hard it’s hard to walk around the city without noticing Maradona’s face on one wall or another.

Neapolitans loved their city so hard that they came together regardless of religion, social status, age, or political beliefs to fight for their city in 1943 against the Nazi occupation forces. This love is also evident in the deep relationship they still have with the city’s past lives.

This strong, passionate, risky love got me thinking of the below reflection question..

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Reflection Question: When was the last time you expressed your love and appreciation to a parent, sibling, friend, partner, stranger, or your community unconditionally – without needing something in return? How did that experience make you feel? How can you incorporate the practice of expressing unconditional love into your life more often?

🔮 Lesson 2: Use what you already have to change your future

During the famous 1943 uprising known as the Four Days of Naples, starving beaten-down Neapolitans didn’t wait for help to fight the Nazis. They didn’t wait for weapons. They didn’t even wait to have a proper strategic defence. Untrained, unequipped, and unshielded, the Neapolitans used their street-smarts to build barricades with furniture. They used everyday domestic items as weapons and underground tunnels as shelter. They used everything they already had to liberate their city, and they SUCCEEDED. Total badasses.

I have wanted to start a YouTube channel for YEARS now, and what’s been stopping me? The little voice inside my head saying “You don’t have the right equipment,” “Your lighting is all off,” “You aren’t pretty enough or skinny enough for being on camera and letting the world see you.” All these thoughts now feel so silly to me. Just like the Neapolitans, I need to use what I already have to change the present as I know it and the tools I already have are plenty enough.

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Reflection Question: What’s one thing you’ve wanted to do for a while now but keep putting off? What tools do you already have available to you (internal and external tools) that will assist you in starting this new journey TODAY? How do you wish to use them?

🪞Lesson 3 “Look at yourself in a thousand mirrors before you judge someone else”

It was kind of hilarious to realise how loud I am.

This was a girls' trip away, which means of course there would be a lot of laughter, energy, and fun. I just didn’t realise that that energy and laughter came at a much higher volume than others! I ain’t gonna lie; I always thought Italians were very loud and lively in groups, and thus louder and livelier than I am, as someone who “minds her manners,” but damn WAS I WRONG because my friends and I were by far the loudest group of people everywhere we went. This was incredibly eye-opening and humbling and got me wondering about all the other false stereotypes roaming around my brain which resulted in the last reflection questions I'll be sharing with you today.

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Reflection Question: Think about a time when your first impression of a person/place/thing was wrong. How did what you later learnt about that person/place/thing change your experience?

Overall, a fun trip with wonderful friends and a lot of lessons learnt.

Life it truly lived in the smallest of moments 💕 Lots of love, Coach Penelope