Away from the glass world of Murano, to Bolzano through Milan and on to Savona. The last week has consisted of travelling and meeting some really lovely people. On the way to Bolzano we travelled with two ladies, who invited us to their house for lunch. Once full-up with pasta, they showed us their town of Bassano and then left us at the petrol station, whose manager they know and who soon arranged the next lift for us.

The next car took us to Trento and then we went further by truck to Bolzano. We took a look at the Glass School there, although unfortunately they don’t have a glass furnace. So we were in a hurry to get to Savona, where we knew that glass was being made in the Glass Museum. It was really a week of encounters as the next truck driver was a young Romanian guy, who for the last two years has been making deliveries throughout Europe. This is a stable income for him working for three months then being at home for two weeks. This way he can save up for his house, car and dog! Vassilli didn’t want us to leave as he was so enjoying our company, but as he dropped us off, he gave us a huge bag of food for our journey.

Then we waited in the rain for the next possible lift and despite the notice from the Italian Police, ‘No hitchhikers on the motorway’, it was an ideal place to wait and we were soon picked up by a Romanian family, who donated us their umbrella when we left them.  We didn’t make it all the way to Savona and stayed overnight in Milan. The next morning we another lift further to Savona on the Ligurian coast, to Elena Rosso who lives there and drove us to Altare in the mountains to the Glass Museum.

After the closing of the glass factory, she bought a wonderful house from a family of glass makers which she has turned into a museum. The old factory made everything from glass, which is now on display in the museum. Engravers from Germany perfected their engraving skills here. There is a small furnace located in the garden of the museum where they still do a little bit of work. For us it was wonderful to see that there are other places in Italy where people are working with glass, and not just in Murano.