In August 2025, Daniel Kiel, who studied at Syracuse Florence in 1999, returned to the city for the first time in 25 years. “I forced my son to visit Piazza Savonarola and check out the outside of the villa, which he tolerated and I enjoyed,” Kiel shared. His visit was more than a nostalgic tour—it was a celebration of enduring friendships formed during his semester abroad.
While Kiel’s time in Florence was impactful in many ways, one experience stood out: joining a local Italian basketball team. Early in the semester, he spotted a flyer inviting students to play and convinced a fellow student—then just an acquaintance—to join him. “He insisted that basketball was too American and that we do something more Italian,” Kiel recalls. “Ultimately, I convinced him to check it out and we were among 3–4 students who spent the semester playing on a team with a bunch of Italians.”
Each week, the students were picked up by a local named Gianluca and driven to various gyms around the region. After games, the team would gather for pizza, forging bonds that transcended language and culture. Kiel later wrote about the experience and received a Syracuse award for his essay.
Despite the limitations of early 2000s technology, Kiel managed to stay in touch with one of his Italian teammates, Riccardo. Over the years, they exchanged WhatsApp messages about basketball, family, and life. When Kiel planned his return to Italy, he reached out to Riccardo, who now lives in Pesaro. The two arranged to meet in Rome, where Kiel and his son shared dinner with Riccardo and his family in Trastevere.
“More than 25 years after we first met, my son and I had dinner with my friend Riccardo and his wife and daughter,” Kiel said. “We even called that acquaintance (now a close friend) who had initially been reluctant to join the basketball team, and he and Riccardo spoke for the first time since 1999.”
Riccardo’s family drove four hours to Rome for the reunion, while Kiel’s family had flown across the ocean. “We just kept marveling that after all that time, we could just fall back into conversation as though those years had disappeared. It was surreal and wonderful.”
Adding another layer to the story, Kiel’s family hosted a high school exchange student from Savona in spring 2024. His son and the student bonded over a shared love of basketball, playing on a team together and spending countless hours at the gym. Their friendship led to the family’s summer trip to Italy, where Kiel’s son stayed with the student’s family for a week.
Reflecting on his return to Florence, Kiel said, “I was feeling particularly grateful for my time there all those years ago. I told myself I would share it with someone at the school so that you could know how the ripples from things that began there can still be felt.”