Italia Sparita – A Story about Little Things and Big Emotions
by Catherine Marien
…about the meaningful little things and cherished moments we want to hold onto forever.
People gathering on the main piazza in a quaint Italian village, a detail on a balcony, lonely boats in a small little port, a town that fits the name of ‘sleeping beauty’, tiny taxis that look like jewelry boxes on wheels, amazing craftsmen working in complete humility, and many other moments that made our hearts sing.
I was searching for a word to express this feeling.
Something similar to ‘nostalgia’, but for things that do not belong to the past yet.
This wistful affection for something that is on the verge of being lost forever, but isn’t quite yet, and that we don’t’ want to lose.
The word does not seem to exist, at least not in the languages I know. The terms that come closest are the Portuguese saudade (the feeling of missing something or someone) or German Fernweh (a longing for or emotional attachment to a specific far-off place or a more diffuse feeling of wanderlust), but they are not quite the same.
Anyway, the longing for these moments and little things, and the feeling that they need preserved, is the meaning behind the video.
A video about moments lost and found in Puglia and Basilicata.
