[MUSIC PLAYING] “So I’m in Golfo Paradiso, heading to the ocean for something to eat. Because I’m very hungry. Italy’s a good place to be hungry.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “I think I’m like a lot of people, in that I didn’t really know anything about Golfo Paradiso. Golfo Paradiso’s this string of towns right along the sea, just 30 minutes from Genoa. Golfo Paradiso is known for a lot of things — beautiful water, rocky beaches, and these picturesque towns, like the kind of tall row houses, each painted a different pastel color. Pretty beautiful. The other thing that Golfo Paradiso is known for is food — very, very good food. I got connected with Lucio Bernini. Been in touch with some guys very much involved in the focaccia scene. Yes, there’s a scene for focaccia. Lucio and his wife Daniela work with the Focaccia di Recco consortium. Focaccia di Recco is a cheese focaccia. It’s not thick. It’s very, very thin. And it was so cool to see these bakers have these huge disks of dough that they twirl and twirl and twirl, until it’s like paper thin and you can see somebody through it. And then they throw on these dollops of cheese, put the other layer, and throw it into the oven. And this stuff is addictive. Once you start, you just want more. And thanks to these people that I met, I really did get my fill of Focaccia di Recco.” “Buonissima!” “Buonissima!” “Over the days that I was staying in Golfo Paradiso, I got pretty close to my bed and breakfast host. Davide is a composer and piano player. Arianna is a painter. Their daughter Maria is kind of both. Just like her mother. Maria painted me a painting, which is definitely staying with me for the rest of the year. Oh, it’s Papa! Sofia put on a little demonstration for me. She showed me how to make trofie. Trofie is a type of pasta that I had never seen before. And it looks like these tiny, little corkscrews. Kind of roll your hand up, then roll it back on an angle, so that creates a little twist. Can you do that?” [LAUGHING] “No.” “And it was one of my favorite experiences of the whole trip. You know, you can go to all these amazing restaurants, you can eat your weight in focaccia di Recco. But really, just like hanging at this bed and breakfast with these amazing people was really the highlight.” “Yes. Good one.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “Golfo Paradiso is so much more than just ocean and beaches. Probably among the places on this list so far, where I’ve met the most people, where I’ve made the most friends, and it just reaffirms my feeling that I’ve had all year that people are good. Some of my new friends. Say ciao.” — [SPEAKING ITALIAN] “When you’re on the ground, and you’re really going face-to-face with people, more people in this world are good than are bad.” “Sebastian!” “This is why I travel. Wow. Making connections with strangers, even when you don’t even speak the same language — I mean, that reaffirms humanity for me. That makes me feel a little bit better about the world.” [MUSIC PLAYING]