Why would a nonreligious PR maven and fashion lover from Australia choose to live behind the walls of Vatican City, where she has to make a home in communal barracks—and even follow a dress code? Joanne Bergamin shares her very old-fashioned love story with Abby Haglage.
The first time I laid eyes on Rome, I knew I had to live there. I was 10 years old, tagging along with my parents on a trip to buy gold for their jewelry shop back home in Australia’s Gold Coast. I loved the feel of the city, the energy, the people. I adored how the language rolled off their tongues, and how they encouraged me to say hello in Italian. When I returned to normal life in Australia, Rome stayed with me as I went through school and university and started a career.
When I was three years into a job working in public relations for a billion-dollar gas and oil company, it just hit me. I was a grown woman, with tons of friends, a great family, and a dog I adored, but I had a realization: If I want to live in Italy, it’s now or never. So I quit my job, said good-bye to my childhood friends, and moved to a city where I knew no one.
Through a stroke of luck, I got hired at Prada as a sales assistant for the summer. In order to get a student visa so I could stay in Italy, I started studying theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. I already had a bachelor’s degree in communications, another one in German, and a master’s in business administration, but the subject seemed like a welcome departure from my fast-paced fashion job.
This story is from the December 2016 edition of Marie Claire - US.
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This story is from the December 2016 edition of Marie Claire - US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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