By Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN
(CNN) — Jason Salesberry had never set foot on Italian soil before moving there in October 2017. Today, he owns a house in a hilltop town and is planning the harvest from his two-acre grove of olive trees.
In the nine years since his family arrived in Naples sight unseen, their life has transformed into a whirlwind of European adventure — from paragliding in Switzerland and scuba diving in Greece to days enjoying the local beach and Neapolitan gelato.
“Living in the heart of Europe has unlocked a world of adventure for our family,” Jason tells CNN Travel today.
It is a life the US Navy veteran, who grew up in San Diego, California, and was previously stationed in Puerto Rico and Japan, had never predicted. But he had long been fascinated by Italian culture and dreamed of one day experiencing it firsthand.
After meeting his wife Sherry, a fellow US Navy veteran originally from Trinidad and Tobago, and settling down to start a family, that dream became an active plan.
A leap into the unknown
“I never imagined my life’s path would lead to a hilltop town in southern Italy,” Jason says.
“It really was just an adventure. We wanted to try something new.”
There were practical motivations, too. Jason says he had grown increasingly concerned about violent crimes in Chesapeake, Virginia, where the family had been living since 2009. He wanted a safer, more stable environment for his young daughter.
“When I compared European crime rates to those in the US, the decision became clear,” he says. He applied for a position at a military base near Naples and was hired shortly after.
But while Jason was eager to leap into the unknown, Sherry required some serious convincing.
“I pretty much protested on coming here,” Sherry admits. She eventually agreed to the move on one strict condition: they would stay for only three years. “I’m an only child, and my mom did not want me to come.”
Because they viewed the relocation as a temporary assignment, they kept their three–bedroom home in Virginia rather than sell it. They packed light, unsure of what to expect from Italian housing.
In October 2017, they arrived in Naples with their daughter and their dog. They were anxious about the move in the beginning and couldn’t help but wonder if they’d made the right decision. Jason vividly recalls their first night in the country when the “sheer weight of unfamiliarity” left Sherry in tears.
They eventually found a rental home on the US Navy complex in Pozzuoli, an historic town situated directly on a volcanic caldera. It offered fabulous views, but also isolated them from local life “in an American bubble.”
Learning to slow down
As they settled in, the family fell in love with the local food scene and the slower pace of life in Naples.
“Back home in the US, everyone’s busy,” says Sherry. “You have your nine to five, then you have to prepare to go to school and work the next day. It’s not like that here.”
She jokes that they had to learn to adapt to a local culture where a dinner can last two or three hours.
“We had to learn the art of slowing down,” adds Jason. “Yet, the benefits have far outweighed the adjustments.”
As the birthplace of pizza, Naples offered plenty of culinary exploration. The family loved trying out the city’s mom and pop restaurants, marveling at how every kitchen had its own spin on classic pasta and pizza.
But local schedules brought some culture shock.
Restaurants rarely opened for dinner before 7.p.m. — a time when the family was typically winding down. Adding to the challenge, Jason and Sherry, who works for bank, often maintained US office hours.
Then there was the traffic. The “intense” driving style in Naples left Sherry so terrified