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Nashville residents Zeneba (Zen) Bowers and Matt Walker, symphony musicians, quit their jobs, sold their home, unloaded their possessions, and moved to Italy. All in 6 weeks. Whew! One would expect sophisticated urbanites, who needed to keep working, would relocate to a cosmopolitan city like Florence or Milan. THAT is not at all what happened. Zen and Matt fell in love with, and moved to, Soriano nel Cimino, a small picturesque and out-of-the-way village 57 miles north of Rome. Join the couple’s captivating and amusing story on Episode 135 of Retire There with Gil & Gene.
Bowers and Walker wrote I Can’t Believe We Live Here: The Wild But True Story of How We Dropped Everything in the States and Moved to Italy, Right Before the End of the World.
The couple also authored four guidebooks: (1) Tuscany, Italy: Small-Town Itineraries for the Foodie Traveler; (2) Italy’s Alpine Lakes: Small-Town Itineraries for the Foodie Traveler: (3) Emilia-Romagna, Italy: A Personal Guide to Little-Known Places Foodies Will Love; and (4) Ireland: Small-Town Itineraries for the Foodie Traveler.
Zen and Matt own and operate Little Roads Europe, creating personal itineraries for travelers who seek to get off the beaten track in Italy and Ireland.
Watch the couple on CBS Sunday Morning playing music on their Italian balcony during the lockdown.
Matt Walker grew up on Long Island and Zeneba Bowers grew up in rural Pennsylvania, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia. Matt earned a Bachelor of Music from Florida State University, and Zeneba attended the Eastman School of Music for her bachelors, masters in music. They were both musicians with the Nashville Symphony and in Nashville's music recording industry for 20 years. They also founded a chamber group, ALIAS Chamber Ensemble, in which they produced four CDs of modern American classical music, including one that received a Grammy nomination. Previously Zeneba was a concertmaster at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach; and Matt played full-time in the symphonies of Jacksonville and Charleston; he also played and sang in a blues/folk band in Charleston. In 2014, they had amassed an expertise which they codified into four award-winning guidebooks, and they established their business Little Roads Europe, making itineraries for travelers who want to get off the beaten track in Italy and Ireland. Their very beautiful and informative website is LittleRoadsEurope.com. They also wrote, “I Can’t Believe We Live Here,” a book available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kindle. I’d like to add, for amazing photos of their travels and everyday living, check out their instagram site “littleroadseurope.” The couple is still working and we’ll let them tell you about that. In their spare time, they enjoy their interests in reading (history, science, sci-fi, among other things), cooking, traveling (of course!), spending time with friends and making new ones, playing music for … Read More
Matt Walker grew up on Long Island and Zeneba Bowers grew up in rural Pennsylvania, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia. Matt earned a Bachelor of Music from Florida State University, and Zeneba attended the Eastman School of Music for her bachelors, masters in music. They were both musicians with the Nashville Symphony and in Nashville's music recording industry for 20 years. They also founded a chamber group, ALIAS Chamber Ensemble, in which they produced four CDs of modern American classical music, including one that received a Grammy nomination. Previously Zeneba was a concertmaster at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach; and Matt played full-time in the symphonies of Jacksonville and Charleston; he also played and sang in a blues/folk band in Charleston. In 2014, they had amassed an expertise which they codified into four award-winning guidebooks, and they established their business Little Roads Europe, making itineraries for travelers who want to get off the beaten track in Italy and Ireland. Their very beautiful and informative website is LittleRoadsEurope.com. They also wrote, “I Can’t Believe We Live Here,” a book available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kindle. I’d like to add, for amazing photos of their travels and everyday living, check out their instagram site “littleroadseurope.” The couple is still working and we’ll let them tell you about that. In their spare time, they enjoy their interests in reading (history, science, sci-fi, among other things), cooking, traveling (of course!), spending time with friends and making new ones, playing music for … Read More
