Traveling is inspirational and helpful for making important decisions, especially when you have been considering turning your life around. I met Ileana when we were both working in the media industry in New York and always admired her perseverance. Her experience of how she gave up her comforts, how she ended up in Florence and how he founded The Dolce Vita Experience, is a great example that if you really set your mind to it, you can fulfill your dreams, because it is not only necessary to have financial solvency, you also need willpower, be willing to leave your comfort zone and above all, overcome your fears.
Now with the quarantine, we have taken the opportunity to have this interview and chat a little about the situation in Italy.
How have you been? How is everyday life under quarantine in Florence?
At the beginning, everybody thought that it was not such a bad thing -the coronavirus-, that it was happening only in the north of the country, that it was like the flu and that you could get away from it. But in only a week, everything changed so much, so many people began to die that everybody took it suddenly very seriously, because Italy was the first country, apart from China, where everything happened very quickly.
In Italy, everyone treats each other with respect, if you have to keep a distance, you keep a distance. If you have to wait, you wait, no one starts fighting with another. You don’t buy as much food either, you just buy what you need, that’s why we all have enough. It’s not like the stories in the United States where there was no toilet paper left in supermarkets. Occasionally, we don’t find flour but within a day or two maximum, you get it.
My parents were worried about me, they wanted me to return to the US because things were good there at the beginning. But I feel good here in Italy, and now I am more concerned about them, because the situation in the US is quite bad.
How did you leave your life in New York and make the radical change of moving to Florence?
In August, it will be 4 years that I am in Florence, and 2 years since I finished culinary school. Before, I worked in advertising and sales. There came a point when I was making good money, I was working on super cool, creative projects, but I was working so much. I don’t know if it’s an advertising thing, or a typical New York or US lifestyle, the constant working, working, working, but not go on vacation or enjoy. I had work meetings at 11 pm at night, on a Saturday, a Sunday. I had a lot of migraines due to so much stress, that it got to a point where I had the most beautiful apartment I had ever lived at in New York, I had money, I went out to super cool restaurants, but I was just not happy.
I didn’t go out because I didn’t have the time and I didn’t want to miss work. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew it was something related to food. I didn’t want to open a restaurant, but I liked food so much that I wanted to start a blog as a hobby. I started taking mini vacations to Florence and Barcelona, and taking cooking classes in every city I visited.
It was in 2015, during the New Year week, that I traveled to Barcelona and did a cooking class that I saw announced at the tourist office. The woman who taught that class -which I liked so much- was forty-something years old and her story was that she had worked in marketing and at 36 she left her job, went to a culinary school in Spain, did an internship in a famous restaurant, finished and when she returned to Barcelona she started giving these classes. That year, I was 36 years old and I just started thinking “if she could leave a long time job, a career, one can do it too, why not?”
So I decided that I wanted to open a B&B and give cooking classes. I wanted to go to Italy to do research on how much a small B&B or house would cost. I came and did not find any information because it is difficult if you don’t live here. So I went to visit a friend in Rome and her friend, who was from California, did wine tours in Frascati and she told me that if she could do it, I could do it too.
When I returned to the US, they were laying off people. About 30 were let go and they gave me a package. I thought “I change my plans, I am going to Italy to do that culinary course, I put the idea of the B&B on hold for now and start with the cooking classes”.
What is The Dolce Vita Experience? How did this idea come about?
When I finished culinary school in 2018, I was teaching cooking classes at night and during the day I was working at Enoteca at Mercato Centrale. In September of that year, I met a landlord through my accountant, who had a luxury apartment with views of the city and who rented on Airbnb, so I started teaching in that apartment. It was a horrible experience, but it taught me that I could do the classes alone through Airbnb Experiences. I had fights with him because he insulted me, until I said “enough is enough, I will not work with him anymore”.
I was searching like crazy where to teach, because having a unique location is very important, since there are so many cooking classes in Florence; at vineyards, in the countryside, in a grandmother’s apartment, there is so much on offer that I didn’t know where to give those classes. Then a friend suggested that I do them at my own home, I told him that my apartment was small, the typical apartment in Florence and he told me “exactly, you live in San Ambrossio, the perfect area, open the windows, let the street noise in”. At first, I thought it was a bad idea. But the next morning, I woke up and said “I can do this, everything is marketing and the story you want to tell”.
I started to reflect, the idea of going to the house of an Italian nonna (grandmother) is romantic, she has an accent, she is older and has been making pasta for years, it is incredible. Ok, I am not a grandmother, but I will tell my story. My story is that I left my job in the US, I came here because it was my dream, I wanted to do it and I am doing it, this is how the idea of The Dolce Vita Experience was born. Many Americans, or people in general, are not happy at work, but are afraid to quit their job, change, or go on a trip.
Since by now, I already know the farmers, the butcher, the vendors, I also take people on a tour of the market, to do tastings, I teach them about the seasons of fruits and vegetables, because here you only eat what there is every season.
So this is my story and the people who take the cooking class with me always say “wow, you are living a dream, that’s amazing.”
How difficult is it for a foreigner in Italy to open a business or start offering a service?
It is difficult but not impossible. Since I came here as a student, it was easier to change my permit. If you study here, you can change your permit from student to employee. But I wanted to get permission as an independent, I didn’t want to work for someone, that was very important to me and to do that, you have to prove that you are an expert in the area where you want to work in. As I was studying, I had no tax return to prove that I was making money, but studies do count as your experience. And I had a certificate from the Tuscany region, that also counts. The first permit is for one year, the second is for two years, to renew it you have to prove that you are working and making at least 500 euros a month.
What is the biggest challenge you have had with The Dolce Vita Experience?
Oh my God, that landlord who was very disrespectful. He thought that I was going to allow him to treat me like this but no. And also, when you work as an independent, you have to learn everything. Now that I want to teach online, I’m looking for ways on how to do it. You constantly have to be learning new things, because I don’t have money to pay a person to do things for me, I have to do everything myself.
And the greatest satisfaction?
My freedom. Not working for someone else and doing what I like. And precisely because I don’t want to work for someone else, I was thinking what I could do during quarantine. Because the tourist season in Italy is from March to November and the coronavirus started in February, so I thought I’m going to teach online. I also have time now to make more videos and live broadcasts.
They say that you have to learn “to turn the situation around” in difficult circumstances. What teaching or idea has the quarantine left you for your business?
That you have to be flexible and also think very fast. I have another idea that I want to do, like two or three times a week. Restaurants are doing deliveries and there is one in Los Angeles that is making “pasta kits”, because if you cook the pasta and then deliver it, it becomes dry.
The idea is to make “pasta kits” for about 5 euros, it would be a fresh pasta and a sauce, so you only have to boil the pasta, and since the sauce is already prepared, it only has to be heated. I will also give two delivery options. For example, make typical agnolotti pasta and for the filling and sauce, I want to do different things, not the traditional, I want to create fresh flavors. Quarantine has forced me to think about creative options, all at a cost that is not too high.
On complicated days like now that we are all in quarantine, with very limited trips to the supermarket, with no opportunity to go from one place to another in search of an ingredient, what ingredients would you recommend buying to make a different, but simple, inexpensive and fun Italian dinner (that is to say, not the typical pasta that we all know how to cook)?
Italian cuisine is very traditional and has many rules depending on the region. But the idea is to be flexible and use what you have. I like to always have preserves like pickles, pickled onions and marinated roasted peppers. Then you can use them in salads or with a meat and your plate changes.
You always have to have herbs and spices because that changes the flavor of everything. You also have to be curious and combine things. One day, I used cauliflower, herbs, pickles and carrots that I had for weeks and I made a paste with chili and soy -soy changes everything-, anchovies in oil and I used everything I had in the fridge; it was great. You have to buy ingredients that you can use in different dishes and not throw anything away, you can always prepare something, just be creative.
When everything returns to normal and we can travel again, what place, that is not too touristy, should not be missed when visiting Florence?
I like the Mercato di Sant´Ambrogio, because almost all tourists go to the Mercato Centrale because it is closer to the Duomo. It is also difficult to get to know Florence in three days, there are so many things to do, if you are not afraid, it is a good idea to rent a car and travel to the outskirts. With a car, you can visit more off the beaten path wineries, where the typical tours usually don’t take you, or go somewhere where they make goat cheese. For example, I had a great experience with bees, to learn more about beekeeping.
And everything that has to do with food and wine, but make it more artisanal. In the city, you have to go to areas like San Frediano or Santo Spirito. And in general, walking through the city and getting lost in its streets.
Finally, why should every traveler have The Dolce Vita Experience when visiting Florence?
Because it is an authentic experience that shows you the local lifestyle in Florence. When you travel, you always think “what would it be like to live here, what do people do, what is a typical night for them, where do they go out to eat”, so I introduce you to what it is like to live in a very local area of Florence.
And do not forget that it is possible to fulfill your dreams, do not be afraid to take those opportunities, it is very important to be happy with what you do, because life is too short to spend most of your life doing something you do not love.
You can follow Ileana on her page and social networks:
Instagram: @thedolcevitaexperience
Facebook: /thedolcevitaexperience
