a Casa di Elena

Unknown artist

I'm from Polignano a Mare, where my main job is managing three holiday homes, all of which are overlooking the sea. I manage the bookings and websites for the holiday homes. I prepare the houses when people visit. I do the check in and check out. I own all the holiday homes, they are all for 2 people. We are working on our fourth home and a fifth with seven rooms, which will work more like a bed and breakfast. Most of my guests are from the UK and Australia, some from Italy of course and also the USA. I started to do this work about 6 years ago. I was university in Bologna, and was visiting Calabria for a holiday with my boyfriend. I fell from a horse and broke four of my vertebrae. So I couldn't travel for a few months, and I came back home to Polignano. Then, I had a house that was part of holiday home agency. I started to work with the agency, as I couldn't go back to Bologna. It was supposed to be something for a few months. In the end, they offered me a full-time, permanent contract. I was 20 then; to get this kind of contract when so young is really important. So I decided to work with them. After four years with them, I left that job, and decided last year to take care of my three holiday homes. The tourism season here in Polignano is mostly in summer. We start to work hard in May, and work all through the summer to October. Sometimes the season may start in April too. From April or May through the summer, I don't really go on holidays. I work all the time. In the low season, there are not too many tourists here. I close my houses as they are on the sea - it's not so nice during storms. In that time, I do lots of courses, learning new skills. I travel with my family, take vacations. And later, we then start to work again, painting, improving the houses. Tourism is the main economy here in Polignano. There can be downsides - you can only really work here in tourism. Most of my friends are abroad. They have studied at university, and there is not jobs here for them. So, for example, my best friend lives in Luxembourg, another friend is in Milan. Some people that live in the old town can feel like they are extras in a film. I can understand that - it's busy all day, and can be stressful living near such events and activity. Local people think that managing holiday homes is very easy. But it's not, because you are always under judgement because of guests' reviews. You want to be perfect. For me, I love the tourists because, even though I'm in a little city, it's like I'm travelling. I meet people. Now I don't feel like I'm just in Polignano because I'm speaking with my guests and not just with my neighbour. I keep in contact with some of my guests - for example, my next holiday is to Amsterdam, I asked some previous guests who live there to send me a list of suggestions to visit. It's nice to have this kind of little network and exchange around the world.