After learning her family’s Italian culture from her immigrant grandparents, Susan Guerra is experiencing a new part of life by living and leading walking food tours in Italy.
Growing up in Glen Ridge, Guerra was familiar with New Jersey Italian traditions, but it wasn’t until years later that she would move to Italy and truly learn the extent of her family’s Italian heritage.
“I spent my entire life dreaming of one day moving to Italy,” Guerra said. “I was 50 something and the dream had still not subsided. My husband retired, and we said, ‘Now it’s time to go.’”
Guerra and her husband Richard moved to Puergia, Italy in 2014. They chose Perugia because their eldest son moved there and opened Perugia’s first artisan cocktail lounge.
Susan Guerra with her husband Richard. The couple moved to Italy from Glen Ridge.
Guerra brought her family’s Italian food traditions and her experience in the food industry with her to Italy when she moved, but she never expected it to open up so many new opportunities.
Guerra wasn’t ready to retire when she moved to Italy, so she continued to work remotely at her job in the states.
Guerra had been living in Perugia, trying to figure out what she could do with her career and her history in the food industry, when her friend suggested the idea.
“Getting to Italy opened a door for me,” she said. “I’m not ready to retire, and a friend suggested I begin a walking food tour.”
Guerra has worked in the food and wine business for years and grew up eating and making Italian food. When she moved to Italy, she realized how different the food was and how deep Italian food history went.
“It’s an awareness that our Italian food traditions in the U.S. are different than the traditions in Italy,” Guerra said. “When you start to scratch the surface of food history, you start to learn the roots are all intertwined. While Italians seem to be very rigid with rules for eating, there’s flexibility in the actual recipes.”
Her experience in the food and wine industry, combined with her new life experience in Italy, allowed her to combine the two to create a unique and immersive Perugia walking tour.
“They didn’t exist in Perugia,” she said. “I wanted to introduce my guests to locals. It’s not about seeing places, it’s about experiences that put people in touch with passionate Italians.”
Guerra officially launched her food tour, Taste of Perugia, in 2016.
After becoming involved in the industry, Guerra created an umbrella company called Via Del Vino. Under this business, she offers food and wine tours in other Italian regions.
Experiencing snack time in Perugia (VIA DEL VINO)
“If I’m going to do tours in other regions, I need to visit the places and meet the people,” Guerra said. “It’s so rewarding, and it doesn’t feel like drudgery. It’s all about discovering things and introducing those discoveries to like-minded people.”
Along with a new addition to her career, Guerra’s lifestyle has shifted after living in Italy for ten years. Her life is more spontaneous now since moving to Italy, Guerra said.
Susan Guerra says her life is more spontaneous since moving to Italy.
“When you live in a medieval town, you can walk to everything you need,” she said. “Socially, you never have to make plans because you just walk up to the piazza and you’ll run into someone you know. In the U.S., we tend to plan things out, and I’d say my life is more spontaneous now.”
Guerra spoke about the different direction her life has taken since moving to Italy. She’d grown up experiencing Italian traditions, and now she’s learning and experiencing new ones.
“You don’t need a translator to know how passionate Italians can be about their food,” she said. “It’s really beautiful how passionate people are about traditions.”
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