This story dates back to those “anni in motorino sempre in due”–this song by Max Pezzali reminds me of years of lightheartedness that only teenage spirits are allowed to experience.

Despite our young age, in our small town in Northern Italy, it was completely normal to stay out entire days, forgetting about our families at home, spending infinite hours in the piazza, doing absolutely nothing between a joint or two. 

We never were bad kids though; we were simple kids who enjoyed freedom, adventure, and  sleepless nights, which we spent running around on our mopeds, anywhere the wind would blow. And there he was in the picture, my best friend of all time. We grew up together in harmonious complicity, always the leaders of our “compagnia” and a point of reference to all our friends. Complicity led to full synergy and full synergy–as it often does–led to love.

Throughout the years, our feelings grew stronger and stronger, but when a long-lasting friendship stands in the middle, things can get tough. We were so afraid of losing each other that we gave up on the idea of romantic love. As the years passed by, our friendship remained intact and, as we found ourselves other partners, we continued spending as much time together, hanging out as we always did, with our lifelong group of friends. But because there is no such thing as a neat line between friendship and love–for friendship is a form of love, perhaps the purest of all–we couldn’t refrain from desidering, admiring, and honoring each other.

I vividly remember sitting at many dinner tables, enjoying a glass or two of his favorite Tuscan wine and catching him staring at me. I would stare back with shimmering eyes. This wine has a profound taste of passion and earth, it recalls feelings of rootedness, just as the ones I felt when we were together. Sipping that red-tainted wine pulled down an invisible veil that hid us from the chaos around us, and everything would suddenly become silent and still, as our heartbeats collided. What we nurtured deep in our hearts remained unspoken for years, but great lovers have a way of unconsciously driving destiny wherever it needs to go.

I found the love of my life in my dearest friend. Finally together, our everlasting love story competes with those of novels.