Some places feel like home before you even realize why. For me, that place was Bardolino, on the south-east shore of Lake Garda. I spent every weekend and summer there as a child — riding my bike between towns, on the lake with my grandpa’s sailboat, stopping for ice cream, falling on dusty trails, and quietly telling myself that someday, I want to live here.

Back then, I wasn’t a cyclist yet — at least not in the way I am today — but those early rides were the beginning of a connection that only grew stronger with time.