The First Big Adventure

The road was getting narrow. It was quickly becoming a walkway.

Reaching out from the back seat of our motorcycle, I could almost touch the tall, rough walls on either side of our bike.

Up ahead, our new friend Joe was leading us on his bike, to the annual Apple Festival in the small Italian town of Benevento. A longtime expat in Italy, Joe and his wife Nicky had been living in Italy for years, and were graciously showing us some some of the most charming destinations near Naples, where we all resided.

But a wrong turn had us weaving through the labyrinth of a tiny village with streets no wider than a Smart Car. Nicky was riding ahead of us, her taillight bouncing as the bike negotiated a bumpy relationship with each cobblestone.

Despite the unknown of hairpin turns in close confines, I was laughing out loud. This was why we moved to Italy. This was the adventure we craved.

Marveling at each old passageway, my only concern was the thumping exhaust of the bikes reverberating off the stone walls. In such an old and serene place, it seemed irreverent to be so loud. I hoped we weren't offending the people who lived here - hanging their laundry from the tiny windows high above us.

A few more hair-raising narrow turns and Joe stopped to ask for directions. An Italian woman standing on her doorstop in an apron, seemed curious and friendly. Joe and Nicky approached her with big smiles and bad Italian to ask directions to the Apple Festival.

With exaggerated gestures, the woman attempted to direct us and waved with enthusiasm as we slowly thundered off again, trying our best not to rumble.

Ten minutes and three U-turns later, we finally found Benevento.

It was a colorful, intimate town with a main street lined with booths selling apples, jams, pastries and cheese. Everything you think of when you think of Italy was here. The food, the charm, the smiling faces.

We are greeted warmly by the local Italians who pose next to our bikes for pictures and ply us with apple wine. Peeking from windows above the retail shops, and shyly pointing at our bikes, it's clear they are as fascinated by us as we are by them. I'm relieved our loud entrance into their village wasn't offensive.

Leaving an hour after loading up the bikes with apples and cheese, we were headed back to Naples near dusk. The sun was getting low and I'm a little concerned when Joe points up at the tall aqueduct we rode under earlier, and diverts off the motorway and up onto a side road for a better look at it.

Riding after dark is something we haven't done yet in Italy, and lost after dark on narrow roads like we had just navigated, didn't sound very appealing. But this was just another adventure, and we surrendered to it.

Up above the motorway alongside the arched Roman aqueduct, we could see for the first time the deep trench running down the center of the aqueduct. Gated at both ends of its eight-foot wide expanse, and we were surprised to see a man standing near the gate rolling up an Italian flag that had been hanging above the motorway.

Parking his bike, and walking down to get a closer look, Joe attempted to communicate in Italian, and was surprised when the gate keeper unlocked the gate and invited us with hand gestures, to walk across the monolithic structure.

Ready to take advantage of an opportunity that we knew would never again, the four of us surprised the gate keeper by riding, rather than walking, through the opened gate before he could change his mind about letting us through.

Long-time expats in Italy, our new friends were shocked and delighted at our luck.

"This NEVER happens!" exclaimed Joe as we parked the bikes high above the motorway at the center of the walled arches framing the aqueduct.

"We are so, so, lucky we found him here at the gate and he allowed us to do this!"

Feeling the magic of the discovery, we all agreed this was an experience where getting lost was a thrill, and finding a place atop an ancient Roman aqueduct was a pinnacle day on the streets of Italy.

The End