our story

Three years ago we started our journey. We, two middle-aged Swedes who met seven years ago, wanted to do something completely different with our lives. And the children have become adults and live their own lives. But how would we combine our past careers and experiences with a completely new direction in life? Annika, who has worked with shops and purchasing at the Liseberg amusement park in Gothenburg for almost 30 years, and Michael who has worked as long at a company producing plastic components for the automotive industry. Yes, we both enjoy meeting and socialising with new people. And we both prefer manual work instead of spending time at an office. Also, most of all, we wanted to move to a warmer climate, to start a smaller business and share all this with each other all hours of the day. And because we both enjoy the small pleasures of life, Italy was our first choice with its fantastic food, wines, nature, culture and huge coastal stretches.

There were three long trips where we drove around Italy and experienced everything from rugged campsites and luxurious hotels to restaurants with ghosts. Finally, we found our place: the charming Maratea with its surroundings just south of the more famous Amalfi Coast. An incredibly beautiful and spectacular place with mighty mountains, turquoise waters and lovely beaches with small, round stones.

The moment we arrived, we felt that we wanted to stay here. In Maratea. And we want more people to discover the Basilicata region – a part of Italy that so far has almost been known as a holiday destination among Italians.

In July 2018, we finally found the house we were looking for our B&B business and our new life. In January 2019 we took a car, a trailer and our little dog and left Sweden for Italy. Everything still feels like we’re just on vacation. But with each passing day, it all becomes more and more everyday. We have now started a whole new journey in a foreign country in many ways. We don’t yet know the language and hardly know how to sort the garbage. And when there comes a donkey with a cart on the road, it feels like we’ve made a trip back in time. But everything feels just right, because this is a great adventure and a new chapter in our lives. Of course, there are times when we really wonder what we did and what we’ve left behind. But then we look up at the sky and think: Well, we all watch the same moon, sun and stars. We all live on the same earth. We only moved about 2,500 km away from Sweden. And then it no longer feels so strange, because the distance is only a short flight to family and friends.