Everyone wants to tour a home before they rent or buy it—I’m sure it’s the same in any country. Most people in Italy let you see inside a home even if it is still occupied. If you’re looking for a place and find one that catches your eye on a for-sale flyer at a real estate agent, they’ll arrange to take you inside it. Sometimes the person is still living there, but if they’re not, the agent will have the key and show you around. If the previous resident is still there, you can ask them detailed questions about their neighbors, the neighborhood, and so on—making the tour a fantastic way to get direct information.

I have a lot of experience moving in Milan, and I’ve seen all kinds of different homes. I’ll tell you about one that I toured. There was no longer anyone living there, but it had belonged to an older woman living alone. Apparently she went to the hospital for a checkup because she wasn’t feeling well, and never came back. She probably thought they’d just keep her for a few days for observation. The home looked exactly as she had left it—having sat there for years after she passed. I could feel her presence lingering around the house, and as a result could in no way see myself living there. I gave up buying that one.

Another similar experience that comes to mind was the uncanny—or maybe weird—sense I got when I visited the Pompei ruins.



The city of Pompei disappeared suddenly when Mt. Vesuvius erupted some 1,900 years ago. Archeologists and people of all walks of life from all over the world are drawn to this fascinating site.



The biggest feature is how well-preserved everything is, telling the story of daily life back then like it happened yesterday. It’s less a relic from the past and more a place where the cutting-edge city structures and ways of life seem almost modern. It’s strange how recent everything feels.


Take for example the gridded city streets, underground water systems, hot water systems for bathing, clearly delineated sidewalks and roads, parking blocks, theaters with well-thought-out acoustics, shopping arcades, pubs, and brothels with ordering systems. It’s an endless string of marvels.



Through a stroke of lucky topography, the city was at low elevation back before the volcano erupted—situated along the coast with its own ports to enable both overland and sea trading. You can see the prosperity everywhere in the ruins. It’s amazing.

The site is so huge that it’s impossible to tour the whole thing in a day, and despite its historical value, the majority of it hasn’t even been excavated yet. That means new discoveries gradually emerge as the work progresses, keeping the whole world on the edge of its seat. I felt a really unique energy there with all the things still waiting to be uncovered and seen!