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The modern stone-age family heads to the heel

Our latest adventure on Italian soil took my sisters Sheila and Rosie and me to Puglia, the beautiful and rocky region in the heel of the...

Kitchen Cousins (+ new expat family recipes)

While I was hanging with the family in Tuscany, a kitchen renovation was underway back at the house in Fossacesia. That's where I headed...

Under the Tuscan Clouds

This May, nine of us descended upon, or should I say ascended to, or should I say stampeded into a lovely villa in the hilly Tuscan...

Venice: Bring On the Off-Season

I've put on my thinking mask because I'm having second thoughts about Venice. Is it that the views have lost their magic? That I'm angry...

Le Bestie di Trieste

Okay, I'll admit it. That title is trying hard to be clever across two languages: In the Italian, "the beasts of Trieste" is a reference...

Ups & Downs on the Amalfi Coast

There’s a lot to say about nine days with five family members in such a stunning and storied spot as the Amalfi Coast. In the interest of...

Thinking Pink

Well, while many of you anglophools* were watching a florid Charles shuffle to the throne, I was watching the start of the race that...

Apericena: An Italian Phenomenon

This is a short post I’ve been meaning to write since I started this blog. For those on a budget, and even for those who are not, it’s...

22 Hours in Ravenna

From Pescara, Rosie and I dashed to the famous mosaic city of Ravenna in Emilia-Romagna, which I'd long wanted to visit. Ravenna once was...

Postcards from (and of) Rosie & me

(Wish you were here?) I’d planned this brief January trip to meet with Sergio, the property manager, to go over work to be done this...

Hymn to Venice #1022

Venice doesn’t just make me happy; it makes me aware that I’m happy. I guess that's at least partly because Venice wakes up my senses....

A Gallop Through Venice

I can never get enough of Venice, so made a run there before I left Italian soil in October. This time, I was staying at the hotel Ai...

More Family Time in Fossacesia!

Well, I’m on a roll. I just had another stay in Italy with family members. This time, I was joined by my nephew, John, and his wife,...

Table for Six, Per Favore!

This trip was a real departure for me. I’m accustomed to traveling to Italy alone, but this time I was flanked by a jaunty gaggle of...

Robbed in Rome

I was robbed at Rome’s Tiburtina bus station last week. A Roma woman took my portfolio-style wallet with about $500 in cash, my passport,...

Fill ‘Er Up and "Check" the Oil!

I arrived in Fossacesia in time for il raccolto, the olive harvest. The harvest here came a bit later than usual, in part due to rain...

Inauspicious Beginnings, with a More Auspicious Twist

My triumphant second arrival at the house in the epoch of Covid proved to be a trifle short of entirely triumphant. It started with the...

A few curiosities and one wardrobe malfunction

After weeks of dread prior to my departure — dread that I wouldn’t have the right Covid documents to enter Italy or get back into New...

Diving Back into Italy!

Well, after 19 months away, I landed on Italian soil this morning. I must admit I wasn’t really looking forward to this trip because I’ve...

The Accidental Miscreant

As I've mentioned earlier, Italians love to scold. They'll shake their heads, wag their fingers, cluck their tongues at you for all kinds...

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