About Me
Hi! I’m Katty
Traveler & Photographer
About Me
Hello, I’m Katty and there’s not a lot to tell about me… or is there? Not so long ago my cousin turned 20 and I realized he’s 21 years younger than me. Which means he’s got his best years ahead of him. And I thought… if I were allowed to go back, what would I do differently? Probably nothing. And that is a really good feeling.
Back to me: I was born and have lived in a small town in Vicenza (North-East Italy) most of my life; now I’m here with my boyfriend and two cats (and a baby since 2021).
I love traveling and photography; this blog is not meant to be a travel-guide. I’m just sharing what I experience during my trips in Italy and abroad. I hope you’ll enjoy it.
My story
I have always loved traveling. While I was studying (law) at university, I didn’t have a lot of money, plus I could only travel in Summer. Still, I did some nice trips in those years: an Inter-rail (a 20 day trip by train) first in the UK and Ireland, than in the Scandinavian countries; tour of Spain by car, tour of Italy by car the following year. I also spent one year studying in Paris, thanks to the Erasmus student exchange program: great experience.
But when I graduated I finally felt free to do what I liked most. Before I started to look for a job, I told myself that I wanted to travel a bit. Because I had never traveled alone, I decided to start as a volunteer in Chile; I was for two months in this hogar de ninos, and one month traveling South, down to Patagonia.
I think that this clicked something into me, because once I went back, I could not stand still. After a few months working in the Registry Office of my Hometown, I decided that was not the life I wanted. So I moved to London. I came back one year later, because I was tired of working in restaurants and Starbucks. Meanwhile I was accepted for an internship at the European Council in Brussels, so I spent 4 months there. Lovely city. Once it was finished, I went back to Italy. But 6 months later I was in London again. I worked in a pub for a year, than I got a job in a travel agency. My dream job. I enjoyed it for a couple of years: once a month I traveled somewhere in the UK, every 2 months I flew back home, and every 6 months I traveled abroad. I visited Morocco, Thailand, Japan, China, Jordan.
At one point I got tired of London. I missed Italy, the warmth of its people, and my family and friends. So I came back. But, once again, before I started looking for a job I wanted to take a long trip. So I went to Asia. I traveled from Hong Kong to Chennay, in South-East India, via Tibet and Nepal. It was a life-changing experience. For the people that I met and the places I visited.
Once I got back to Italy I looked for a job. But due to the recession, I could not find anything. Or maybe I didn’t try hard enough. So I had to re-invent myself and started working as a freelancer. First as translator (English to Italian), than as Social Media Manager for www.lifeinitaly.com. I wasn’t earning great money, but I loved my job because I could tell people about the country that I love, I could manage my time and I get to travel whenever I wanted (well, once I was able to save enough money). So I’m very thankful to the recession: it saved my life.
Since I’ve come back to Italy, I have visited Tanzania, alone again, then I fell in love, so I’ve been to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Iran, Cuba, Georgia and Armenia, around Italy with Luca, Morocco with friends.
In 2019 I started to photograph families and events professionally. In 2021 I had a baby, so our travels have changed a lot. In 2022 we did two train trips in Switzerland and around Europe. We are still hoping to travel as much as possible, I am sure our boy will thank us for it!
The name
Some people think that Tia is my name (it does exist in English). It’s not. My name is Katty Piazza. I got this nickname from an amazing experience I had in Chile, working as a volunteer in a children orphanage/institution (Koinomadelfia). The children called me tia Katty; tia is aunt in Spanish, and I loved it so much that it became the nickname for my gmail and, from then on, for all my social profiles.
Socials
Instagram portraits: @katty.piazza
Instagram travels: @tiakatty
Twitter: @tiakatty
Facebook: tiakatty
Pinterest: katty piazza
Write to tiakatty@gmail.com
favorite stories
Every time I read about the trip in Haiti, from the night we spent on a boat just after the border to the long hours spent on buses just to do a few kilometers, I get a bit anxious. I don’t know if I would be able to repeat this trip, one of the most adventorous so far.