Paul Wright

An Italian Home: Paul Wright

Just what is it like for a foreigner to live and work in a northern Italian village, and become part of the community? How tough is it to leave your home country and settle in a new one? What do you have to do to be accepted by the people who live in a village that has existed for over five hundred years? Award-winning stage designer and artist Paul Wright and his wife found out the hard way, working, playing, laughing, eating and drinking alongside the residents of a beautiful medieval lakeside village on the shores of Lake Como.
Paul and his wife had had enough of Britain in the 1990s recession so they left for Italy - except that they had no work there and Paul could not speak a word of Italian! That didn't stop them diving head first into the life of their adopted village, Moltrasio. They soon found work; Paul as a mural painter and his wife in an office in Milan. Paul was recruited by the local football team and they both took part in the fabulous summer and Christmas festivals and the mangialonge - the 'long eats' where groups of locals drive off into the country to feast on the best local food and wines, all day.