The Italian Voice

There is a nice highway stop in my area, just between Bologna and Imola. In Italy the major part of them is called autogrill.
Every time I pass through that road I see it.
I start to peer at it from the bridge onto the highway, I observe the cars darting and the people over there like little ants, I wonder what will be the destination of who stops off there and have long have they had on the road.

The autogrill for me is a place which always represented a sort of freedom, for me this is the reason for travelling, stop off there is like stopping after a long hard day of work and tasting the air onto the skin, listening to the clatter of the people who are crowded at the bar, imagining the taste of the typical foods and touching the softness of the plushes set onto the shelves of the mini market, glancing at the headlines of the newspapers and of the magazines which are displayed before the exit door.

shot by A. Guandalini

In this area, only a few people know the access to the highway stop, even if it situated outside the highway, maybe only who works there and who arrived by chance and friends who spread the word.
To me it happened the last case.

For me that autogrill is so much tempting that often, passing onto that bridge, I even try to make me come to mind some good reasons to enter by car the tiny and not paved street which takes to the highway stop, sometimes I desist to avoid to spend money or to get left behind in my daily tasks, but other times I can not resist.

What I feel entering the gate behind the autogrill from the parking and entering the door of that public place is almost indescribable, it sounds odd to feel such a strong emotion, but I really arrive there with such a big sense of excitement that the adrenaline stays in my body for several minutes also after my visit there.

I am not embarrassed to say that, in these cases, I feel like a kid who is able to obtain what she wants: that sense of freedom which sometimes I need to taste to feel alive.

Have you ever tried to enter a highway stop when you were not on vacation?

Trackback URI | Comments RSS