''Message from Italy to My Loving Sri Lanka by Diana Bancale''

From the top of Sigiriya Rock, Sri Lanka by Diana Bancale

One Year after her visit, famous Italian Travel Blogger praises Great Sri Lankan Hospitality & Resilience in the Face of a Crisis. Diana Bancale is an award-winning Travel Blogger/Instagram Travel Influencers. Her travel blog is www.inviaggiodasola.com and also available on Instagram as @inviaggiodasola.

The Italian based female travel blogger is among the 10 best Italian travel bloggers and recognized at the Macchianera Awards (Italian Internet Awards). Her Blog has over 40,000 Ave. Visitors per month and been a popular female internet figure in Italy she has been featured in more than 100 interviews in National TV Channels, Radio, Newspapers, and Magazines. Since she became a fulltime travel blogger & influencer (2014), she has traveled to over 40 countries covering all continents.

Diana was part of the first international travel bloggers & influencers group to visit Sri Lanka soon after the Easter Attack during the first week of May under Sri Lanka Tourism’s Visiting Travel Blogger Program 2019.

While re-assuring safety with her family back in Parma-Italy, Diana was recapturing her unforgivable memories in Sri Lanka and wanted to share her Sri Lankan experiences with the rest of the world – visiting an island after a devastating terror attack and how was the tourism recovery.

‘’I want to send a big virtual hug to Sri Lanka and its wonderful people, that I was lucky to discover in 2019’’, Diana stated in her message.

"Only one year ago I was there, right after a huge challenge for the whole country and now another big issue to face. My condolences go to all the families that lost their loved ones.

"We are all united during these hard times: Italy, Sri Lanka, and all the countries in the world.

"It has been an amazing experience. I still talk about it when I am asked about my favorite trips and countries in the world. It has been something magical: we passed from the big city to the mountains, from the beauty of tea plantations to the food markets and the charming temples.

"We got to see from very close Wild Elephants roaming free in the national parks with their babies and we eventually relaxed in the beautiful palm beaches of Negombo. We could assist in a traditional Hindu celebration and even tried to cook delicious Nothern Sri Lankan food during a cooking class in Jaffna! I felt so blessed to experience all these things in just one trip!

"The Easter Attack of 2019 was a few days before my trip but during the whole travel, I felt so safe, difficult to realize what just happened there.

"We found police control almost everywhere: in the hotels, in the streets, shopping mall, touristic attractions. They would check cars, documents, and people, I have been under the impression that the situation was under control.

"As I always share with my audience, the most important thing to make a trip unique are the people you meet and the connections you get in a certain place. I loved nature, the atmosphere, and the beauty of Sri Lanka but what impressed me the most, I think it was the people."

I felt so welcomed and protected in every single location we visited. Nevertheless, the awful experience of terrorism, the people of Sri Lanka were still so cheerful, smiley, and sweet with me and my colleagues from Japan, the USA, and Russia.

It’s something I would never forget.

I can’t wait to visit Sri Lanka again, soon after we pass this terrible COVID 19 situation. I still have so much to see and share my travel stories with my Italian and global travel audiences.

Till that moment, I Dream of You ‘’Sri Lanka’’ and Big Thank Sri Lanka Tourism for creating those unforgettable memories.


Diana,
From Parma, Italy