Only in Italy is There a Pizza Place in the Middle of Nowhere

Word of the post: Albero (tree)

My mom once told me the story of how she and my dad met. Simply put: She hitchiked. So when the opportunity came for me to hitchike on Saturday, I didn't think twice- hey maybe I could have met my future husband too?

Several weeks ago, Nino mentioned going to the shopping outlets outside of Rome. I thought that this would be a simple process, but it turned out to be an adventure of a day ending back in my apartment.

The outlets are 33 miles from my apartment, so we looked up the bus routes and hopped on the number 30 at 12:45 PM on Saturday. When the number 30 dropped us off 45 minutes later at the busstop for the 706, we ended up having to wait 20 minutes for the next bus. When the 706 dropped us off at our next stop, we waited an hour for the 704. When the 704 picked us up to bring us to our final stop ,where we expected to call a taxi, we realized we were going to be in trouble. When the 704 picked us up on the side of a 4 lane highway and headed off onto a dirt road with trees, we knew this was bad news. Ten minutes later we arrived at the final bus stop in Rome--which was surrounded by trees, grass, wood, and only in Italy--a pizza place. Fifty yards up we could see the expressway again--the four lane expressway. OUr directions had told us to get off at the last stop, and walk three miles. We walked in the pizza place, and the lady told us that the three mile walk was uncomfortable because it was either through woods, or on the expressway. We called several taxi services but their response was, "We are closed today," or "We don't come out there today," or "We can get you a taxi tonight." The last bus in the city drove away--and we were now stuck in the middle of no where. We had come so far, yet the final three miles were impossible to make. I then stuck out my thumb, and waited. We continued to wait. And then a man stopped. Nino ran up and talked to him in Italian, and he told us to get in. I thought about it for a moment, but when I realized the backseat had a baby seat--I made the executive decision that the guy wasn't some Texas Chainsaw murderer. Within 15 minutes we were at the nearest bus stop, which we then took to the nearest metro and hopped on to come home--emptyhanded.