How I Traveled to Italy to DJ a Music Festival
Mamma mia! It's the Newark of Italy!
24 hours before my flight to Italy, I sat in my doctor’s waiting room, unsure if I would be allowed to go. I had been planning this trip for months— something to get me through my previous two surgeries.
The deal was, if my eye implant they had put in during surgery was open and looking stable, then I could leave. But if it was still closed, I had to stay.
When I finally saw my doctor, he confirmed it was closed. I waited for him to deliver the bad news; that I would need to stay in New York and wait for the implant to open on its own. Instead, he surprised me.
“We’re going to laser it open,” he told me. Within ten minutes, I was signing consent forms, and he took me into a separate room where they lasered open the stitches holding my implant together.
Several hours later, I called my friend Amanda, who was supposed to come with me on the trip, but also waiting to hear if I could go. We had gotten refundable tickets for both scenarios. I told her she could pack her bags! The next day we found ourselves on the plane to Rome.
The whole time we flew there, it felt surreal. Partially because I had already convinced myself I wouldn’t be able to go. And also because I was going to DJ a festival in Italy.
When we got to the airport, a driver picked us up, along with another artist from Sweden and his girlfriend. Amanda explained she was there as my friend, but also my dancer or “booth bitch” as they say in America. It felt particularly special that Amanda was there with me. We were together when I first discovered ecstatic dance at Envision festival in Costa Rica in 2020, and since I started leading my own dances a little over a year ago, she’s been at every one.
The driver took us straight from the airport to the festival, located in Tuscania, about an hour outside of Rome. While initially I thought the festival was in Tuscany, I found out soon after from an Italian friend that this was not the case.
Tuscania was, in fact, a region of Italy close to Tuscany. It also sounded like Tuscany, but was not the same at all. Essentially, I understood that it was just like how Newark was an hour from New York, and sounded like New York, but was not the same. So, I was DJing in the Newark of Italy. Still, I was extremely excited to be there!
We arrived in our jet lagged haze in almost 100 degree heat, and were taken to our tents they had set up for us. By the next day, we were able to slowly get into the flow of it. But here were some impressions from our first days at the festival:
It turned out we were at a psy-trance festival, which I somewhat knew, but also figured there would be other stages so we could always explore other music if we wanted. It turned out that it was heavily focused on psytrance. If you’ve never heard this genre before, it kind of feels like being stuck in a video game you can’t get out of until you want to have a mental breakdown. So, I learned that I do not like psytrance. Good to know for the next time I fly to Italy for a festival!
Italians really do say “Mamma mia” genuinely. The first time I saw a woman buy a bottle of water, take a cold sip, exhale and go "Mamma mia,” I couldn’t help but smile.
Their festival food is so impressive. Maybe it was this festival in particular, or maybe American food, especially at festivals, is horrible and overpriced, but I was blown away. They had stands with fresh food for reasonable prices. They even had a homemade pasta and seafood stand! I got fresh gnocchi with shrimp in 100 degree heat, and not only did I not get sick, but it was incredible. Another stand even had a fridge with fresh cheese and local produce.
Italians are so nice and welcoming. I truly didn’t meet a single person who was unkind. Also, they are so understanding when you try to speak Italian. Not to stir up shit, but I can speak maybe 10-15 words of Italian, and when I spoke, everyone I met would go, “Wow, you are a natural! Are you sure you’re not Italian? You have the passion of an Italian! Even your name Julia is an Italian name.” I probably had the proficiency of 5 year old, and they made me feel like a local. Meanwhile, I am pretty fluent in French, have been speaking my whole life, can talk for hours, and while, yes, I have an American accent when I speak, I am proficient enough to be there on my own without speaking English. And yet when I speak, French people, thoroughly unimpressed, only ask, “What is that accent? Where are you from?” and move on.
There were a lot of Italian people in dreads. I have never seen so many Italians in dreads in my entire life.
During the day, when I was trying my best to avoid the psytrance music, I’d explore the workshops they had. Some were offered only in Italian, and others were offered in both Italian and English. One of the workshops I tried was an IFS workshop, or Internal Family System, which explores work with your inner child.
The facilitator asked everyone to stand in a circle, and think about a time when they were about 7 years old. What memory did they remember?
Suddenly, I thought of a time when I wanted to visit my babysitter. She lived in Queens, and she was always at our house. I wanted to see where she lived. I insisted I had to go, even though my mom didn’t want me to.
But eventually, I packed a small suitcase, went home with her, and spent the night watching Spice World with her and her boyfriend. In the morning, my mom picked me up. When my mom told me this story recently, I asked her why she let me go if she didn’t want me to. “You don’t understand,” she said. “You were a force. You had it in your mind, and you were going. There was no stopping you.”
Now, standing under a tent with a bunch of strangers in the Newark of Italy, I felt that same force within me and was happy to be there. I couldn’t tell you why I was so determined to go to this festival. It wasn’t a very big one, and it didn’t even really have the music I liked all that much. But when I was in New York, everything in me told me I had to go.
It’s why I let my surgeon operate on me just three days after telling me I needed a second surgery, because I knew I needed exactly six weeks to recover. It’s why I let him laser my eye implant open 24 hours before. Maybe I was tired of all the missed opportunities of this year due to all the surgery, but it also felt like more than that. Some force was pulling me here, and I had to do everything in my power to make it. Now, here I was.
Two days into the festival, it was time for my ecstatic dance set. I spent the morning setting up, and then realized I still needed a drummer. I asked the festival coordinators who would be drumming with me, and they explained they hadn’t confirmed anyone yet.
“Maybe just find a drummer and ask them?” they suggested. I had no problem with this, only I hadn’t seen drummers anywhere. I sat down next to a woman, and for some reason asked her if she knew any drummers.
“I don’t,” she said, “But I heard there is a drum circle by the waterfall right now. Try there.”
I grabbed Amanda and we headed towards the waterfall. Sure enough, sitting on the path next to the waterfall, sat three drummers. One played djembe, with two others were playing handpan. I listened to them play for a moment, and then approached them.
“How would you all like to play for my ecstatic dance set? You know, danza ecstatica?” I asked. I had put it into Google Translate before, just to be safe.
“Sure, we’d love to,” one of the drummers replied. “But you know, we just call it ecstatic dance.”
I nodded. Good to know.
DJing at the festival was, as always, so much fun. Here’s a short video from it! I get so much energy from dancing and playing for others, and I can tell others feel it, too. I loved having all the drummers there, plus different friends from the festival that had shown up to dance.
Every set is different, but it’s that same reminder of deep gratitude and joy for life that always feels so powerful. (Here is the set if you’d like to listen!)
After the dance, I led a meditation, followed by a writing workshop. I offered journaling prompts in both Italian and English. Some wrote their entries in Italian, so they would speak it out in Italian, and then someone who was bilingual would translate to English for me. It made it all even more special, and these feelings of gratitude proved even more universal.
Later that night, we found our way to a different stage, where a musician from Chile, Sebastian Venu, weaved live flute into their music. It was so amazing, I told myself I needed to start learning the flute. While dancing, I found myself next to Daniele, one of the drummers from my ecstatic dance. Dancing turned to talking, until we shared a kiss. We ended up dancing together until sunrise.
The next day, he played handpan by the waterfall for everyone as they sat lying in the shade, recovering from the heat and the lack of sleep.
Once he was done playing, he asked me what my plans were after the festival. While I had originally thought to go to Portugal, I told him I had decided not to go anymore, and so now my plans were more open ended. He smiled, and asked me if I’d like to visit him for a few days in his home in Italy. I told him I’d love to. After all, I needed to practice my Italian.
Part due coming soon, but until then, thank you for reading!
Con amore,
Julia
