My name is Martina (this is true) I was born in northern-west Italy close to the French border in a small town in 1985.
I have the same small group of friends that I have always had and to this day we still speak openly and freely with each other.
There are things about me they do not know and here I will tell these stories.
We will begin in Bologna in 2003 when I first attend university and I have 18 years and met Marco, the love of my life who has 64 years.
I have always had a passion for tango dancing and theatre since I was a young age. My nonna and my mother would always be listening to tango influenced music at the home where we cooked and lived. My father he left when I was 4 years of age, and he was never to be seen again. This maybe will explain why I have always sought out older men to be in my life.
One such man was Marco. In the summer before I start at university I had found a small apartment in Ghetto Ebraico district. The apartment was old, dirty and cramped and in need of repair for a lot of things, but I was happy as it was my first time away from my town 3 hours away, and now I need a job.
I started working as a barmaid in a small bar located in the centre of Bolgona. It was for the local people not tourists and was a place where old men would openly grab at me as I delivered drinks or collected the used glasses. This was not a happy job for me, but it allowed me to have money on my 2 days off when I could explore and take a coffee and pay for phone credit to speak with friends back home.
On one of my days away from there I discovered a tango theatre that was newly formed. It was hosted in an old convent which still had remnants of the religious artefacts and architecture of its previous use. I sat at the side of the main floor area and watched and listened as the couples danced in the main area. At the end a silence fell, and chatter began. I had made conversation with several people and agreed we would go to a bar for coffee and small beers. Here I was making friends in a big city and happy.
When we arrived at the bar in Centro Storico, a man named Marco caught my attention and spoke with me. He was softly spoken but direct. The waitress arrived at our table, and he did not break eye contact with me and ordered another red wine for himself and a water for me, despite me enjoying a white wine at that moment.
He was intensely focused on who I was, where I was from, what I was doing for education and where I would be as a career. Midway through the conversation I allowed myself to use a word that was not pleasant. Marco looked at me and his large hand slipped onto mine that was gripping my knee and softly said 'you never will use such words '. My stomach turned at this moment, maybe from the touch of his hand, but more likely that I was scolded by him.