I don't take tons of photos when I travel in Italy.
I used to.
Camera roll full of the same shot taken twelve different ways.
Trying to capture everything. Worried I'd forget.
But here's what I learned after 30+ years:
The best memories aren't in the camera roll.
They're in the details I took time to notice—and the small ways I recorded them.
Let me show you what that looks like.
Photograph the details, not the landmarks.
The door knocker.
The hand-painted tile.
The espresso cup.
The way the light hit the table at lunch.
These are YOUR memories. Not postcards.
One intentional photo per day beats 200 you'll never look at.
I have a photo of a blue door in Orvieto from 1989. I can't tell you what museum I visited that day. But I remember standing in front of that door, the smell of bread baking somewhere nearby, the quiet of the afternoon.
That door holds the whole day.
Record the ambient sound.
Thirty seconds of the piazza.
The church bells at noon.
The espresso machine hissing.
The birds in the courtyard.
Sound unlocks memory like nothing else.
One day you'll play it back and be transported.
I have a recording of the bells in Lucca. Just bells. But when I play it, I'm standing in my kitchen, morning light coming through the window, coffee in hand, feeling grateful to be exactly where I am.
You don't need fancy equipment. Just pull out your phone and hit record. Thirty seconds. That's it.
Write a postcard to yourself.
This one might sound strange, but trust me.
Describe where you are.
What you're thinking. What surprised you today.
Mail it home.
It arrives after you do—a gift from past you to future you.
I did this from Lucca once. The postcard arrived three weeks later. I'd forgotten I'd sent it. Reading my own words—written in that moment, in that place—brought it all back in a way scrolling through photos never could.
It's like opening a time capsule from your trip.
These are three of my favorite ways to capture memories in Italy—but there are six more.
Click here to read all 9 ways I capture what matters when I'm in Italy.
You don't need 1,000 photos to remember a trip.
You need intention. A few details. And a way to capture what the camera can't.
The feeling. The presence. The moment you were fully there.
That's what stays with you.
Alla prossima (until next time),
P.S. — How do you capture memories when you travel? I'd love to know.