The first time I came across Elba Island, I was a young man with high hopes.
I was working for one of the oldest banks in the world, I felt I was part of a tradition!
Unfortunately, the same feeling was not had by the managers, and the whole thing ended very badly. But that’s another story.
It was my first job and it lasted only from Spring to the Autumn.
Before, I did not even know where Portoferraio was!
I did not take it well as provincial as I was, I wanted to go straight to a big city.
I was born and lived in the same region a little less than one hundred and fifty kilometres from Elba,
When I first landed in Portoferraio,I felt space / time vertigo.
That May day was extraordinarily bright, the vivid colours and the scent of the sea and flowers immediately enveloped me.
Already during the short one-hour journey between Piombino and Portoferraio,
I had been amazed by the sweetness and integrity of the coastline.
I stayed in a tiny hotel by the sea, in Portoferraio.
I noticed that the great beauty of the environment didn’t really correspond to an adequate welcoming reception.
I wandered around for two whole days trying to discover the island,
finding out at the end that I wasn’t able to”explore” even half the territory.
From May to mid-June, I spent all my free time from work,
visiting the villages of the island, following paths
and diving into the transparent sea waters of springtime on Elba
I really never thought I would end up in a place like this!
In mid-June the situation changed , both at work and in my free time
From one day to the next, with a disconcerting punctuality,
the ships unloaded rivers of cars and tourists.
Work for me was neither easy nor light,
but in my spare time I managed to get a taste of the sea and that breezes of the Island evenings that was entering my soul.
After the first week of September, with the same precision with which they had arrived,the tourists vanished. A handful of guests stayed on and those were mostly foreigners.
It was clear that these were amongst the privileged!
I stayed a couple of months on the island, sharing the beauty and the warmth of late summer with the few entranced tourists and with the residents.
Then my initial desire was granted …I was transferred to a large bank branch of an important city in northern Italy!
I remember very little of those three summer months spent on Elba a long time ago, but I keep a clear image of the sea, the sky, the light, the perfumes and the feeling of well-being that I had in that distant spring and late summer of many years ago.
Today my job is to rent villas and apartments on Elba Island, I propose to people like you to live the experiences and the sensations that I lived and felt living on this island, or perhaps I should say, “choosing” to live here, despite better economic positions.
And if it is worth in July and August, I absolutely invite you to come in spring and at the end of the summer.
Since when I started to rent holiday homes on Elba island, I did my best to convince people to come here in spring and at the end of the summer.
You can conctact us:
info@goelba.it
tel. 0565 963006
You’ll always find the most convenient offer.
And you’ll fall in love.
Graziano Rinaldi
