The Italian who has been touring Europe out of pity of the people arrived in Slatina, southern Romania, on Sunday. Luigi Macio, accompanied by his two dogs, decided to extend his stay in Romania after locals gave him a warm welcome.
Luigi admits he barely knows a few words in Romania but they are enough to help him get some money and food. “I know just a few words in Romanian: thank you, right, left, here. That’s it,” Luigi said.
He “nested” near the Hope Fountain area in Slatina, the capital of Olt county on the river Olt, in southern Romania. Luigi recounted about his trips across Europe and Romania, confessing that although he planed to spend in Romania just several days, he has stayed more than a month, charmed with the people and places here.
“I reached Slatina on Sunday morning, coming from Craiova, and I was in Targu Jiu on Saturday. I have been in Romania for a month and several days now, heading to Alexandria, then to Giurgiu, Bucharest, then I want to go to Galati and on the seaside in Constanta. After that, I plan to go in Bulgaria. Before coming to Romania, I was also in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland where I visited Pope John II house, Hungary. Initially, I intended to spend just several days in Romania, but then I saw some beautiful places such as Sibiu, Piatra Neamt or Brasov,” he told Mediafax.
Luigi’s problems started in the 2000s when Italy switched from lira to euro and he couldn’t pay anymore the mortgage for the house he had bought and he had lost it.
He explained how he came up to have the two dogs that are accompanying him everywhere he goes.
“I went to Spain first and found out an abandoned dog there and took him with me. A Romanian living in Italy gave me the second dog. Romanians are good people,” the Italian traveller added.
Of course, he faces all kind of problems in his journey, and one of them is the chill during the cold seasons. He says he used to find shelter in railway stations when it’s cold outside.
Luigi plans to have done with his journeys through Europe at the end of this year.