Polina and Marco: A 15-Year Road to Happiness

This couple’s love story is like one of those movies you watch with bated breath, because you know for sure that the main characters belong together! The only problem is, for some reason, they don’t realize it until almost the very end…

How They Met

Polina and Marco met in Rome in 2009, when they were still teenagers. Polina had come to Rome from St. Petersburg on a cultural exchange program. Back then they didn’t pay much attention to each other; they hung out with the other students and were simply good acquaintances.

The Beginning

A year later, Polina started studying Italian at university in St. Petersburg. For her 18th birthday, her parents gave her a trip to Rome in April 2011 so she could practice the language and see her exchange friends again.

Marco: “When we met again, I saw her with completely different eyes! I was especially struck by the light she radiated. We spent a wonderful day together walking around Rome, and that evening, as soon as I got home, I asked my friend for Polina’s number. That same night I texted her that I wanted to show her the Park of the Aqueducts the next day.”

Polina: “I was amazed by how enthusiastically Marco told me stories about Rome. He smiled every time I said something, and I could feel he was really happy to see me again.”

The next day they met, and… ever since, the Park of the Aqueducts has held a special place in their hearts. Soon Polina went back to Russia, and the two kept in touch on Skype and Facebook, looking for ways to see each other again. They met several times in Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Lucca and Berlin.

The Breakup

Seven months later, things went sour between them and they broke up, but they still kept in touch from time to time. A few years after the split they met again (by then Polina was already living in Italy) and occasionally messaged each other on Facebook. But those weren’t romantic conversations – each of them was in a relationship and had a busy life of their own.

In 2018 the couple briefly grew close again, but another breakup soon followed.

In November 2022, sitting in an airport in Tokyo, Marco was fondly remembering his conversations with Polina when he suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to talk to her and share his impressions of Japan.

Three months later, in February 2023, Marco wrote to Polina again.

Marco: “I was preparing for a very important job interview, and I felt that the only person in the world who could truly understand me right then was Polina. If it went well, that interview would let me become exactly the kind of mathematician I had always dreamed of being. We spent a whole evening messaging on Facebook, and she calmed me down so much.”

From then on, Polina and Marco talked more and more often, until one day Marco worked up the courage to ask Polina whether he could come from Paris (where he was living at the time) to Turin to see her again. It was May 2023.

Happy End

They have been inseparable ever since. The couple spent the following year moving between Copenhagen, Rome, St. Petersburg, Paris, Turin and the Langhe. Finally, Marco and Polina settled in Strasbourg, where they live today.

On December 23, 2023, in the Orange Garden in Rome, Marco asked Polina to marry him. And on October 12, 2024, what we had been waiting for since the opening scenes finally happened! But this is not the end of the movie at all. It’s only the end of season one.

Marina, Sveta, you are our fairy godmothers! Thank you so much for everything. We’re still in awe and can’t believe that the fairy tale that happened yesterday is OUR fairy tale. We’re absolutely thrilled with the organization and with our guests – everyone danced until they dropped and was so genuinely happy for us)

Polina and Marco’s review of their wedding