I WAS BORN IN NAPLES, ITALY, BACK IN 1962 ON THE MOST FAMOUS DAY OF THE YEAR IN MY COUNTRY, THE 15TH OF AUGUST, “FERRAGOSTO” AS PEOPLE HERE CALL IT.

MY SURNAME, ESPOSITO, IS VERY COMMON IN MY CITY, A SURNAME TRADITIONALLY EMBLEMATIC. WHENEVER YOU WILL MEET AN ESPOSITO YOU CAN BE CERTAIN YOU WILL BE DEALING WITH SOMEONE OF NEAPOLITAN LINEAGE. MY FIRST NAME IS GIOVANNI, AN OLD FASHIONED NAME, VERY POPURAR FOR MY GENERATION, BUT I WAS NICKNAMED GIANNI BY FAMILY AND FRIENDS. AS I TURNED A TEENAGER THOUGH, MY FRIENDS STARTED CALLING ME JOE OR GIO. THAT WAS NOT A CASE CONSIDERING THAT, SINCE I WAS VERY YOUNG, I GOT ASSOCIATED WITH ANYTHING THAT RESEMBLED SOME ANGLO-AMERICAN ORIGIN. THAT COULD BE DUE TO MY VERY EARLY TALENT TO SPEAK ENGLISH, MY TASTE IN MUSIC, THE WAY I DRESSED, THE WAY I LOOKED, TALL AND SLENDER, NOT REALLY LIKE THE STEREOTYPE OF A SOUTHERN ITALIAN YOUNG MAN, AT LEAST IN THOSE DAYS. I ALWAYS LOVED MUSIC, PLAYED GUITAR, ACTUALLY…STRUMMED I MUST CONFESS AND I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN FASCINATED BY BLUES, COUNTRY, ROCK AND POP MUSIC, AMERICAN OR ENGLISH RATHER THAN THE MORE MELODIC ITALIAN TUNES.

EVEN MY TASTE IN READING WAS ORIENTED TOWARD THE ANGLO-AMERICAN CULTURE AND SINCE A VERY YOUNG AGE I PREFERRED WRITERS LIKE MARK TWAIN, HEMINGWAY, POE, DICKENS, WILDE AND LATER ON THE BEATNIKS LIKE KEROUAC, GINSBERG, BUKOWSKY AND SO ON. FROM DOORS TO ROLLING STONES,FROM DYLAN TO THE BEATLES I FOLLOWED THOSE FOOTSTEPS, FELT THOSE RITHMS AND LISTENED TO THOSE LYRICS AND THE CURIOSITY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THOSE ARTISTS ACTUALLY SANG ABOUT PUSHED ME INTO IMPROVE MY ENGLISH WHICH BECAME MY SECOND LANGUAGE AND LATER ON, FOR A GOOD PART OF MY LIFE, EVEN THE FIRST ONE.

I WAS ONLY LITTLE OVER MY TEENS WHEN, WITH A DEAR FRIEND OF MINE, DECIDED TO LIVE A WORK EXPERIENCE ABROAD. IN THOSE DAYS, THE EARLY EIGHTIES, IT WAS LONDON THE PLACE TO BE. COOL AND COSMOPOLITAN, LONDON WAS A MELTING POT WHERE EVERYTHING WAS HAPPENING IN MUSIC, ART, CULTURE, FASHION ACTRACTING YOUNGSTERS FROM ALL OVER EUROPE AND THE WHOLE WORLD. SO MY FRIEND AND I GOT ON A TRAIN AND AFTER HAVING CROSSED HALF OF EUROPE REACHED LONDON WERE WE SPENT, UNFORTUNATELY, ONLY A FEW MONTHS, A LOT LESS THEN WE HAD HOPED. IT WAS AN INTENSE AND EXCITING TIME CUT SHORT BY THE SUDDEN ILLNESS THAT STRUCK MY FRIEND, FORCING HIM AND ME, I COULDN’T SEE HIM GO ON HIS OWN, TO RETURN  HOME. SADLY HE THEN FOUND OUT HE HAD A RARE DESEASE. THOSE FEW MONTHS I SPENT IN ENGLAND BOOST MY ENGLISH AND THE ATMOSPHERE I HAD SAVOURED THERE CAST A SPELL ON ME. OONCE BACK IN NAPLES I DID SEVERAL JOBS. I EVEN WORKED FOR A WHILE AS A BAR TENDER IN A POPULAR BAR ON THE CITY’S PROMENADE MEETING AND ENJOYNG THE CONTACT WITH ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE, TOURISTS AND NOT. SOME TIME LATER MY DAD STARTED HAVING SOME HEALTH PROBLEMS AND I HAD TO REPLACE HIM ON HIS TAXI CAB TURNING, THAT WAS MY FIRST EXPERIENCE AS A DRIVER, IN CONCLUSION, EITHER SERVING DRINKS IN A BAR OR DRIVING PEOPLE ABOUT IT BECAME CLEAR THAT I WAS DESTINED MEET AND WORK WITH FOREIGN TOURISTS. THE CONTACT WITH PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY THOSE FROM FOREGN COUNTRIES, BECAME SOMETHING I REALLY ENJOYED. DIFFERENT CULTURE AND LIFESTYLES INTRIGUED ME AND STIMULATED MY MIND. ONE EVENING, AT A PARTY, I MET A GIRL FROM CALIFORNIA. TALL AND BLOND SHE REALLY STOOD OUT AND WE STARTED HANGING OUT TOGETHER BECAMING SOON VERY GOOD FRIENDS. THE STORY WENT ON FOR MONTHS UNTIL SHE HAD TO GO BACK HOME AND ASKED ME TO FOLLOW HER THERE. SHE REALLY DID’NT HAVE TO ASK TWICE AND THERE I WAS OFF THE THE STATES! I WAS IN L.A., CALIFORNIA AT 25 YEARS OF AGE AND I FELT I HAD THE WORLD TO MY FEET. DIFFERENTLY FROM MOST OF MY FRIENDS WHO WERE TYPICALLY OF SOUTHERN ITALIANS ALMOST MORBOUSLY ATTACHED TO THEIR FAMILY TIES, I ALWAYS ENJOYED A STRONG INDIPENTENT NATURE. ALTHOUGH MY FAMILY WAS QUITE PRESENT, MY PARENTS ALWAYS RESPRCTED THE KIDS PRIVACY AND LET THEM MAKE THEIR OWN CHOICES FREELY. AS FAR AS CALIFORNIA WAS CONCERNED, I HAD A GREAT TIME THERE AND DEFINETLY TOOK ON ITS LIFESTYLE BEING MYSELF FASHIONABLE, KEEN FOLLOWER OF A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE AND PRACTICING FITNESS. I ALWAYS HAD A PASSION FOR GYMS. ALONG WITH MUSIC, GYMS HAVE BEEN THE LOVE OF MY LIFE. WHEN I WAS I CALIFORNIA I TRAVELLED A LOT VISITIN PLACES LIKE SAN DIEGO, PALM SPRINGS, PALM DESERT, SANTA BARBARA AND CARMEL, AT THE TIME CLINT EASTWOOD WAS ITS MARE. I DROVE OLONG THAT MYTHIC BIG SUR AND LEFT MY HEART IN SAN FRANCISCO! OF COURSE BEING THAT CLOSE I HAD TO SEE MEXICO, I TOOK THREE TRIPS THERE THAT GAVE ME A WONDERFUL TIME AND YES, I DRANK THE WORM! THREE YEARS LATER I SPLIT UP WITH THE TALL, BLOND L.A. WOMAN AND WENT BACK TO ITALY.

AT THE TIME IN NAPLES THERE WAS A SMALL ENGLISH COMMUNITY AND MANY OF ITS MEMBERS USED TO GATHER AROUND THE HOUSE OF ONE OF THEIR GROUP, A GIRL FROM SALYSBURY WHO HAD MARRIED AN ITALIAN GUY. HER HOUSE WAS RIGHT ON THE SHORE OF ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTYFUL AND PICTORESQUE PLACES IN NAPLES, POSILLIPO. SHE HIRED GIRLS FROM ENGLAND AS NANNIESTO HELP HER RAISE HER TWO KIDS, A LITTLE GIRL AND A BOY. SHE WANTED THEM TO GROW BILINGUAL. EVERY TWO YEARS, SHE WOULD CHANGE AND FIND A NEW GIRL, THEY WERE AU-PAIRS. I MET ONE OF THEM AND FELL IN LOVE. A SWEET LOVE AFFAIR WHICH STARTED AS A SUMMERTIME SHORT LIVED ROMANCE BECAME SOMETHING BIGGER AND ENDURING. TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE MY ENGLISH DARLING STARTED FEELING HOMESICK, MISSING HER MOM AND DECIDDED SHE HAD TO RETURN TO OLD ENGLAND, SOMEWHERE IN COUNTY DUHRAM. THAT OLD CAST ENGLAND HAD SPELL ON ME WAS STILL LINGERING AND  IT WAS NOT SO HARD FOR ME TO FOLLOW HER. IT WAS 1989 AND ENGLAND AT THE TIME WAS STILL GOING THROUGH A NASTY RECESSION, BUT I WAS LUCKY AND QUICKLY GOT A JOB IN A BIG COMPANY, SOMETHING LIKE THE AMERICAN HOMEDEPO. I WAS THE ONLY ITALIAN FOR MILES AROUND AND ALTHOUGH MY ENGLISH WAS ALREADY PRETTY GOOD I WAS FORCED TO WORK ON IT TO IMPROVE IT AND FAST! ENGLAND HAS MANY SLANGS AND VERY BROAD TWANGS AND THAT SPOKEN IN TEESSIDE, WHERE I LIVED AT THAT TIME, WAS REALLY STRONG. I MUST SAY IT WAS QUITE HARD AT FIRST, THEN I GRADUALLY GOT USED TO IT AND THAT VERY PECULIAR ENGLISH BECAME UNDERSTANDABLE TO MY EARS TO THE POINT THAT I ENDED UP SPEAKING LIKE THEM MYSELF.

NOTHERN ENGLAND IS A BEAUTIFUL PART OF THE WORLD. “GREEN AND PLEASENT LAND”, EXCEPT FOR ITS WEATHER, IT HAS A COUNTRYSIDE OF UNCOMPARABLE BEAUTY SCATTERED WITH FANTASTIC AND MISTERIOUS CASTLES, ADMIRABLE ROMAN VESTIGES AND CHARMING VILLAGES. ALTHOUGH PEOPLE THERE WAS FRIENDLY AND HUMBLE I WAS NEVER REALLY ABLE TO SETTLE IN. PROBABLY MY FAULT.

ANYHOW THE BIRTH OF MY SON FINALLY BROUGHT THE SUNSHINE IN MY LIFE AND MANY YEARS OF HAPPYNESS AND ALL THAT TIME I SPENT IN ENGLAND THROUGH THICK AND THIN HAVE BEEN WORTHWILE AND UNIQUE. SADLY, AS IT HAPPENS, THE RELATIONSHIP WITH MY ENGLISH DARLING EVENTUALLY DETERIORETED AND LOVE EVAPORATED WE BROKE UP. I MOVED OUT AND MY ONLY REASON FOR STAYING IN A FOREIGN LAND WAS SEEING MY SON ONCE A WEEK. BUT LONELINESS IS A NASTY BEAST AND BECAME HARD TO BEAR. THE DISTANCE FROM MY PARENTS, WHO WERE GETTING OLDER AND MY FAMILY WAS FINALLY TAKING ITS TOLL AND AS SOON AS MY SON HAD GROWN INTO A MAN, I MADE MY MIND UP AND DECIDED TO RETURN HOME. BEFORE I ACTUALLY CAME BACK TO ITALY I TOOK A LONG TRIP TO CHINA WHERE I STAYED FOR A MONTH. VISITING THE FAR EAST HAD ALSO BEEN ONE OF MY DREAMS SINCE MY CHILDHOOD. A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE THE ORIENT, MAGNIFICENT AND UNFORGETTABLE. TRAVELLING HAS ALSO BEEN A PASSION OF MY LIFE AND IN ALL THOSE YEARS I SPENT IN ENGLAND I TOOK TRIPS TO VISIT MANY COUNTRIES LIKE FRANCE, IRELAND, SCOTLAND, GERMANY, TURKEY, THE CHEC REPUBLIC AND MANY FORMER YUGOSLAVIAN STATES. ONCE BACK IN MY HOME TOWN AT 45 YEARS OLD I HAD TO START MY LIFE FROM SCRATCH AND HAVING BEEN AWAY FOR SO LONG HAD CHANGED ME IN A WAY THAT I FELT A FOREIGNER IN MY OWN COUNTRY. NEVERTHELESS I EXPLOITED MY DECENT ENGLISH AND FOUND A JOB AS A PROFESSIONAL ESCORT DRIVER FOR TOURISTS. TODAY I LOVE MY JOB THAT GIVES ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW AND TELL THE MARVELS OF MY HOMELAND OF WHICH I AM PROUD AND MEET MANY PEOPLE OF ALL KIND FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD.