Genoa, Italy
My plane landed in Genoa, Italy about an hour ago and I'm now speeding down the highway in an Alpha Romeo taxi cab. The drivers here in Italy are excellent and serious AF and they like to open it up on the freeway. These are not your typical eight lane super highways you'll find back in the States but rather the two lane variety. No problem with that. My guy is pushing 70 easy and we are inches away from tractor trailers and flatbed trucks clocking in the same numbers. We are flying through tunnels, hugging the coastline and climbing mountains but I am completely at ease because, after all, I am in the hands of a professional.
When you're in a foreign country, even a friendly one like Italy, it is always best to work with professionals.
“My house is up there,” my driver says to me, gesturing with one hand up at the steep mountain side to our left.
“You’re a lucky man,” I tell him. Indeed, if you do intend to reincarnate, you can’t really do much better than to be reborn on the Italian Riviera.
“Christopher Columbus is from Genoa,” he adds. “He grew up in these hills here. This area is renowned for making cloth. That’s why it was very important for ships at the time. They were experts at making sails for the ships.”
“Your English is very good,” I comment.
“I lived in Columbus, Ohio, for five years,” he said.
I thought that was quite a coincidence, for all the obvious reasons.
“Genoa is also the birthplace of the blue jean,” he said.
“Blue jeans?” I said, “Now you’re talking gibberish man. Blue jeans are U.S.A. born and bred. Just ask John Cougar Melloncamp.”
“Not quiet,” he answered, “‘Jeans’ is taken from the word ‘Genoa.’ This is the place of its origin.”
I let that ruminant for a while. It affected me, on a deeper level. Somehow, my world view, and my standing in it, shifted, in a small but significant way.
“So you’re telling me,” I said, “that this place, Genoa, was responsible for two of the most iconic things in America - the blue jean and, well, the country itself?”
“Yes.”
I didn't have the heart, of course, to bring up the fact that back in New York City, they've practically canceled Columbus. Even the once grand Columbus Day Parade which marched proudly down 5th Avenue was corralled to a side street in 2024.
Even in his day though, Columbus was a controversial figure for his dealings with indigenous peoples he'd encountered, as were many of the early European explorers. It was an uneven history but pivotal for our modern world.
Our taxi continued down the coastline, past the seaside towns of Camogli, Portofino and then Santa Margherita Ligure, my final destination. I checked in to my hotel then headed back out on to the streets in search of a cafe. It was late morning on the Italian Riviera and I was beginning to feel the telltale signs of caffeine withdrawal.
Andrew K. Arnett is a writer and producer. He has been published in Paranoia Magazine, New Dawn, Nexus, Konbini and Alien Buddha Press. He lives in Brooklyn, NY and hunts ghosts with the Brooklyn Paranormal Society. Find him on Twitter: @AndrewArnett
