I had to include that picture haha.

I'm going to include more pictures of the places they go, because I really like doing that :)

(One of the places that they're going they'll be going closer to sunset, so just pretend the pictures of the stadium--once you reach that part--aren't for midday.)

And ... I'm just going to see where this chapter goes. 

This is long. This is super freaking long. It's a smörgåsbord of scenes that were supposed to be little, some stay that way, some don't, but I'm still finding more details to add...

Hope you all like kinda-roadtrip-esque travel fluff.

Enjoy! :)

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From Campania to Rome, the drive is about 2 hours and 40 minutes, so they'll give themselves at least 3 hours in case they run into traffic. And so they can make stops along the way.

The concert is at 9:00 pm. And they don't want to arrive right at 9:00 pm, so they have to account for that too.

They decide to leave at 5:45 pm. That gives them plenty of time to get there. 

Now they spend some of the day in Amalfi--going at the time where the heat would scare all the people away. Of course a trip to the Amalfi Coast is incomplete without a visit to Amalfi.

"I'm glad I finally got you here," Antonio comments. "Yeah, it can be crowded, but with good reason." He gestures around. "I mean, look at all this."

"Very true," Sean agrees. "So what do we do first?"

Antonio brightens. "Allora, esploriamo!"

And they do explore.

And there's a lot that they can explore: there's the town itself, there's the Cathedral Sant'Andrea, and the Chiostro del Paradiso, and the Marina Grande Beach.

And Antonio makes sure Sean has some of the authentic caffè here.

They have a lot of fun going around the town.

And Sean is pretty sure that he's never quite seen anything like the Chiostro del Paradiso.

They have the most fun playing on the beach anyway.

When all the tourists do start trickling into Amalfi again, they head to a tiny cove called Santa Croce.

This was all worth it. 

Sean wouldn't have spent this midday any other way.

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Now it's time to drive.

Of course, they may have lost track of time, so now they're a tad bit behind schedule.

No matter; that's what the extra time was for anyway.

"Hopefully we can still get there at a good time," Antonio mutters as he starts the car. He looks up at Sean apologetically. "Sorry."

"For...?"

"I lose track of time easily. And I take forever to get from one place to another. So, sorry that we're leaving later than we wanted to. È la mia colpa."

"Are you kidding me?" Sean bursts. "That was some of the most fun I had in a really long time. And it's not just your fault that we lost track of time. I wasn't paying attention, and neither of us were wearing watches.

Antonio smiles. And then, he shifts the car into first gear, and starts driving.

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"Grazie al cielo!" Antonio exclaims when they arrive at the Stadio Olimpico. "There's still good parking!" He hurries to a parking spot as fast as he can and grins as he parks the car.

"I mean, you were driving more than a little fast at times. It's not a surprise that we still got here in good time."

"Nah, that wasn't driving more than a little fast. That was ... driving with both a time and place in mind."

Sean chuckles a little and looks straight ahead again. His jaw drops when he sees it.

On their long drive full of talking, Antonio had forgotten to mention to Sean that this is a freaking stadium.

Antonio notices Sean staring. "I forgot to mention a thing or two about this place, didn't I?"

Sean laughs to himself. "I should have figured it out when I learned it was called Stadio Olimpico."

"Yeah, that's a big indicator," Antonio says with a smile. He unlocks the car. "Alright. Andiamo!"

And so they get out of the car and head into the stadium.

It's beautiful from both the outside and the inside, as Sean soon discovers.

Since Antonio stress-drove them here and they didn't have time to stop and have a full dinner, they get plenty of snacks. Then they go find their seats.

Finally, the concert starts.

The opening band comes and goes--a band that Antonio knows, but Sean doesn't.

Then Cesare Cremonini comes out and the audience goes wild.

"This is going to be good," Antonio murmurs, leaning forward.

And the music starts.

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After the concert (which ended super late), they drive a short distance to a hotel that Antonio booked for the night. Both are too tired to do much else.

"Thank you for bringing me to the concert. I had a lot of fun."

"Of course. I had a lot of fun too."

"Definitely gotta listen to more of his music now."

"Yeah, me too. I mean, I already listen to his music a lot, but still."

The thing is, when Antonio had booked the hotel a little bit ago, he was the only one staying supposed to be staying in the room. Once they check into the hotel and learn that there aren't any other rooms available, they agree it would just be easier to share the room.

"I love staying in hotel rooms," Antonio murmurs sleepily as they open the door to the room they're staying in. "They're just so fun, you know?"

"I agree," Sean says, then yawns.

It's not the biggest of rooms,  but it's still pleasant with a cosy feeling. There's a window on the opposite side of the room. There's a dresser, one bed, and a sofa--which Sean assumes could possibly be one of the couches that can fold out into a bed.

"Tu prendi il letto, io prendo la sofà," Antonio suggests. You take the bed, I take the sofa.

"Now this time I'm impeding on your vacation," Sean reminds him. "You already had a plan for this for a while, remember? No. You take the bed tonight."

Antonio waves his hands in the air dismissively, eyelids fluttering for a moment. It's obvious he needs sleep. They both do. "No, no no. You're the one I dragged here. You should take the bed."

"Do you really wanna be going at this all night?" Sean is getting really tired, and this argument is going no where.

"...No."

"So how are we going to settle this?"

"If you take the bed and I take the couch."

Sean sighs. "Fine. Have it your way."

Sometimes the way to win an argument is simply getting it to end, which sometimes meaning giving in.

It doesn't take too long for them to get settled in for the night. Sean is pretty sure he's about to pass out.

"Buona notte," Antonio breathes out in a whisper from the sofa next to the window.

"Buona notte," Sean murmurs back. He closes his eyes, and falls asleep.

A couple hours later, Sean awakes after hearing a loud thud.

He sits up in the bed immediately, heart pounding.

Sitting up so fast made him dizzy; he has to take a moment to reorient himself.

That's when he sees what made that thud.

Well ... not some thing. Some one.

Antonio had rolled off the sofa in his sleep.

Apparently, it wasn't enough to wake him up.

Sean tries not to laugh loudly. But he can't stop the huge smile on his face.

Sean is torn for what he should do now. Should I wake him up? Should I leave him there? He doesn't know.

He checks his watch. It's almost 2:30 am. He probably should go back to sleep now. But can he go back to sleep knowing that Antonio is lying on the cold floor right now?

Am I strong enough to move him back up on the sofa?

Sean's inner conflict continues.

"Dove sono?"

Sean freezes.

"Perché sono sul pavimento?"

It seems like Antonio has woken himself up.

Sean continues to do nothing as Antonio continues muttering to himself in Italian.

"Ohhh." It seems to finally dawn on Antonio where he is and why. Antonio sits up and stretches. "Che ora-?" He finally notices Sean for the first time, and freezes. "Oh." 

"Yeah."

"Huh." Antonio sits there for a moment, then laughs a little. "I should have known this would happen."

"If you want to switch places, we totally can," Sean suggests.

"No, no. It's fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

Sean doesn't know what else he can say. "Well, good night. Buonanotte."

"Buonanotte."

Antonio gets back on the sofa. Sean lays back down and closes his eyes.

It can't be much more than ten minutes--fifteen at most--when Antonio declares, "I can't sleep."

Sean sighs. "Neither can I."

Both sit up.

"This happens to me a lot," Antonio says ruefully. "I have the hardest time going to sleep. But last night I was really tired, so it was easy. But any time I wake up in the middle of the night ... I cannot fall back asleep easily."

"That sometimes happens to me." Sean rubs his eyes sleepily. "Except for me, sometimes sleep comes easily, sometimes it doesn't. I don't often wake up in the night."

"Lucky," Antonio mutters reproachfully. Then he stops. "Wait." He looks up directly at Sean. "I woke you up, didn't I?" When Sean doesn't reply, Antonio continues quickly. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry, you need sleep, now I feel bad-"

"Hey." Sean cuts him off before he can keep going. "It's cool."

"Davvero?"

"Davvero."

A few moments of silence.

"I guess I'll try to fall asleep again," Antonio decides.

"Or," Sean suggests, "If you can't sleep, and I can't sleep, why don't we just talk with each other? I mean, it'll keep us from boredom, and it'll help tire us both out, won't it?"

"That's actually not a bad idea."

Sean smiles in the dark. "I know." He pats the side of the bed beside him. "Come here."

Antonio doesn't protest.

Once he gets settled, Sean asks him about life in Italy. And so the little life stories begin.

They take turns talking. Then, Sean is telling Antonio about his last couple days in Brooklyn before coming here, when he notices that Antonio's breathing has slowed down a lot. Sean trails off.

Antonio is definitely asleep.

Sean smiles. It worked. He yawns. He's pretty tired too.

Should I move to the sofa now that Antonio is here? he questions. I mean, I guess I can.

Before he can follow through with that, though, he falls asleep too.

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They sleep in till noon.

Not that they were planning on doing much in the morning anyway.

They pack up their stuff--not that there's that much; they were only staying one night; and most of Sean's luggage is still locked in Antonio's car anyway--and check out of their room, then find a place to have a good sized lunch.

Then it's off to their next destination.

Close to two hours later, they reach the Square of Miracles--Piazza dei Miracoli--in Pisa.

And let's not forget the one specific part of the Piazza dei Miracoli that Antonio wanted to show Sean.

The iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa.

"Behold!" Antonio gestures dramatically to it. "La torre pendente di Pisa!" He does jazz hands. Then he adds, "Or simply, la torre di Pisa. Or even just la campanile. Depends on who you ask."

"Cool." Sean continues walking.

"Wait wait wait."

"What?"

"Do you want one of the pictures?" 

"I'm not following."

Antonio grins with amusement. "I thought every tourist knew the holding-up-the-leaning-tower-of-Pisa photoshoot."

"Oh right! That one." Sean shrugs. "Well, when in Pisa..."

He lets Antonio take pictures of him in the goofy angle of appearing to be holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Antonio makes several gestures and shouts out several things, all in Italian. He really is a dramatic photographer. Sean tries not to shake from laughing watching Antonio go.

Finally, Antonio decides that he's taken enough photos. He grins excitedly. "Che bello! Now, you take a photo of me."

He hands Sean the phone.

However, he faces the tower the opposite way Sean did, and Sean's not entirely sure what he's trying to do...

Until he realizes and bursts out laughing.

Antonio's pose is him comically "pushing" the Tower, giving it its angle.

"Good pose, isn't it?" Antonio smirks.

"Definitely!" Sean smiles as he takes photos. 

When he's done, they stand side by side, looking at the tour.

"It gives me hope, you know?" Antonio says. "This tower has been around for ages, and it's still standing, even though it ... you know ... shouldn't. And it's like ... you don't have to be perfect, you know? And it symbolizes the human ability to sometimes almost defy nature. And I really like that." After a beat, he adds, "Well. It also proves that you don't have to be straight."

Sean laughs.

"You still want to get closer?"

"Of course."

They begin walking.

"So. Tell me the history."

Antonio brightens. "So back in 600 BCE, the city Pisa got its name from a Greek word meaning 'marshy land.' Wait, that doesn't necessarily mean anything in relevance to the Tower--aside from it being in Pisa--never mind. Sorry. Where was I? Oh right. So it began construction in August of 1173, then took freaking 344 years to build..."

He tells Sean everything he knows. "Well, it's not their fault that it took that long. It started leaning in 1178 once they started building the 2nd floor. It was only leaning because one side was sinking into the soft ground, you know? Construction had to stop twice, and one of those construction breaks lasted a freaking hundred years..."

"... and here we are, in the 21st century, still visiting this iconic place today," Antonio finishes his history lesson when they walk up to the tower. Both crane their necks up to look at it.

"It's absolutely wonderful, isn't it?" Antonio murmurs.

"It is," Sean agrees.

They spend a few moments of comfortable silence not moving, just looking, at a wonder such as this.

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They keep exploring the Square of Miracles. When they're done, they head to Tuscany--the next place where Antonio had booked a hotel room.

"Why Tuscany?" Sean asks curiously.

"Tuscany has some of the best star-gazing in the world," Antonio explains. "Did you know Tuscany is where Galileo Galilei studies the stars?"

"I know that now."

"And besides, from the Piazza to Tuscany, it's only around an hour drive.  And it's on the way to Milan. And when I was younger, my family loved spending summer nights in Tuscany, so I always feel a little at home returning, you know?"

"I get that."

"Also, normally, I'd visit the Osservatorio Polifunzionale del Chianti," Antonio adds. "Usually June through August is when you can go there, and it's usually open to the public, and there are guest speakers sometimes, and if you're willing to spend a little extra money, they let you use their telescopes, and it's all really freaking awesome--but because of ... well, you know, everything that's been going on since 2020, it's not open for public viewing in the moment; and they still have private tours, but those are freaking expensive. So we're just gonna have to settle for the normal walking trails."

"That still sounds pretty great."

A smile tugs at Antonio's lips. "You think so?"

Sean smiles. "Of course!"

The smile tugging at Antonio's lips grow. "Great!"

They unpack their things in their hotel room, have a late dinner, then start walking outside under the glorious night sky.

Antonio feels right at home.

He looks over at Sean, who is craning his neck to look up, jaw dropped, corners of his mouth tugging at a smile, looking absolutely happy. Antonio smiles.

"And you see this a lot?" Sean asks Antonio, never tearing his eyes away from the sky.

"Yep. And I never get tired of it."

"I bet!"

It's true, Antonio could never get tired of this view. This was what he missed most when he spent summers in America. He would always long to be back here, under these starry skies in Tuscany. He wouldn't trade them for anything.

They fall into a comfortable silence as they stroll leisurely in the darkness.

Antonio looks up too.

Its absolutely gorgeous.

At some point when they're walking, their hands brush. Just like when they were on the boat at the Blue Grotto. 

And, just like on that boat, they don't flinch back in surprise. Slowly, their hands intertwine.

They continue like that, not saying anything, just enjoying the view.

At some point while they're walking, they pass an elderly couple who aren't walking, but have an arm around each other, hands clasped together, heads together, murmuring sweet things to each other softly. They're smiling.

Antonio grins when he sees them. It's so sweet. I hope I get to have something like that someday.

Antonio and Sean continue on, not having anywhere they need to go, nor any pace they need to set. They're just there, enjoying the moment.

They don't have to say anything. It's clear Sean has never seen anything like this, and Antonio has seen nights like this many times before. But both appreciate and enjoy the moment.

Antonio feels a sense of peace.

Suddenly, he sees a shooting star.

I wish Sean and I will get moments like this forever.

And, when they get to their hotel room late at night/early the next morning, they fall asleep in the same bed, arms around each other, stars shining on brightly high above them in the sky.

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Awwwwwww

My heart <3333333

This chapter was a lot longer than I thought it was going to be haha.

3200+ words.

(How...?)

And this was when I cut out some details haha.

So, any favorite stargazing in Tuscany photo(s)?

(My answer: all of them)

What about favorite photo(s) overall in this chapter?

As you can probably tell, I did a lot of research haha.

I wish they could go to the Osservatorio Polifunzionale Del Chianti, but public visits aren't happening right now and private/group/exclusive visits are expensive, so I really didn't see it happening.

But! As shown through pictures, one does not need to go to a fancy observatory (as cool as it would be) to see the stars in one of best areas in the world for stargazing.

I also really wanted them to go see the Leaning Tower of Pisa haha.

And Antonio wanting to take a picture of him pushing the Tower instead of holding it up? That's me. That's what I want to do haha. As well as the iconic holding it up, of course.

I didn't put any pictures here of tourists "holding up" the Tower, but if you look it up, you won't be disappointed. There are some really funny ones, and they made me smile.

I also thought it would be fun if Sean did get a chance to see Amalfi--because no trip to the Amalfi Coast is complete without seeing Amalfi.

I did not elaborate on that concert they went to at all haha.

So. This is how they spent June 28th and June 29th. They have June 30th, then July 1st ... and then a pride parade July 2nd.

I can't wait.

This is, however, the first chapter in the second half of the story, so I hope you're enjoying this so far.

Please, no homophobia, profanities, hate etc in the comment section.

Best,

~Your Beloved Author (who went to a Lorde concert last night and absolutely loved it)