November 10, 2024
The Truth of Olives
Pliny the Elder had olive trees in this valley. Our trees’ long-ago ancestors were tended, harvested, and their oil savored on this land. So, we...
October 20, 2024
The joy of being l’intrepida
When was the last time you felt pure, unadulterated joy? In our village, we can schedule it for a Sunday in October, when L'Intrepida, a...
October 8, 2024
Getting to the bottom of Italian wine
"Don't worry, I wash really well before I get into the barrel to crush the grapes," Filippo told me. My visit to Filippo Volpi's winery—note that...
September 22, 2024
The Joys of Autumn
One day, everything is different. Growing up in Florida, then living most of my adult life in California, I'm used to a more gradual shift...
September 8, 2024
Procida
I've been on a mission to find the perfect fishing village for years. I have this idea in my head—Local Hero in a warmer climate,...
August 19, 2024
Saunter like Sophia (Loren, that is)
I find it hard to imagine what the Italian coast must have been like in the 1960s. Before the hordes of tourists, bumper to bumper...
August 10, 2024
Here’s how Paris surprised me during the Olympics
I had no idea what Paris would be like during the Olympics and arrived with a mix of anticipation and dread. After a week of...
February 25, 2024
Roman Treasures
Rome is slightly over an hour away from us by fast train, but it always feels like an exotic vacation, even on the briefest trips....
December 26, 2023
What the Italians don’t get about the holidays
Being in a mild state of panic seems to be obligatory around the holidays to us Americans, and we wondered if the Italians feel the...
November 5, 2023
Pregnanxiety
I love my village. And what I love the most is not the food, or the wine, or the rolling Tuscan hills, or the thousand...
July 23, 2023
Is it getting hot in here?
Yep, it’s hot. And here’s how I am coping in a land with almost no air conditioning and heat into the 100 degrees. Although we...
July 4, 2023
Discovering Lake Maggiore
Italy is sinking under the weight of tourists right now, and it's not even high-season. I am not too affected by crowds living in such...
April 30, 2023
Just go: Brescia
An unexpected visit to Brescia revealed a delightful town often overshadowed by its neighbors—Venice, Verona, Padua, and Milan—but packed with beauty, history, and great food. We...
April 30, 2023
The Mediterranean diet
I'm doing something next weekend that really scares me. I am joining a hike from La Verna back to our village. Ten miles a day,...
March 19, 2023
Six things that are different in Italy
Observations from my recent, quick trip to the States. After ten years of living in Italy I am often amused by the cultural differences between...
March 19, 2023
Finding a castle out my kitchen window
Certain windows of our house, including the one over the kitchen sink, look out over the Valtiberina, or upper Tiber river valley. We are partway...
February 19, 2023
Life is good
The week of San Valentino has made me think of those moments when you get slapped upside the head by someone's kindness, humor or grace...
January 8, 2023
An adventure in Normandy
The older I get, and with a birthday coming up on Monday that is top of mind, the more I realize that one of the...
January 8, 2023
The living nativity gets complicated
Those of you who have been with me for awhile know that my favorite part of the holidays is the impressive presepe vivente, or living...
December 11, 2022
A new favorite place: Fife, Scotland
So what were we to do? We had paid for tickets for all of us to convene in Edinburgh to drop Sebastian off at the...
December 11, 2022
Me and Sister Ray
I have had about enough. I'd been behaving rather well making sure that between guests and life most of the critical things had been accomplished...
December 4, 2022
“Vacationing” on a barge in France
Mistakes were made–our first was assuming that there would be a grocery store open in the town where we set sail, on a Sunday, late...
November 13, 2022
Five reasons why I love Autumn in Tuscany
I'm not going to even count the fact that I love orange, because that's an all-year basic for me. Going out on a limb I'm going...
October 30, 2022
The devil at the beer garden
My mother was an artist, but her pallet for rebellion was limited. When I was growing up and she was really, really fed up—a fight...
September 30, 2022
Road trip, part II: where did the good times go?
When I left you last on our European road trip we'd headed out of the tunnel from France to England with hearts full of anticipated...
August 7, 2022
Tango, Italian style
"Would you like to come and watch my wife and me dance the tango?" asked Paolo, the dynamo of a contractor and stone mason who...
August 7, 2022
Paolo’s advice for a good life
We've spent the last year improving the nest, getting around to things that we haven't tackled after being in the house close to six years....
July 31, 2022
Road trip in Europe
One graduating kid, one car, one dog, four countries, four languages, three seemingly endless tunnels, eleven different places to stay, three positive Covid tests, one...
June 10, 2022
Just another Sunday
The most important part of the Italian Sunday is lunch. Just like lunch is the most important thing Monday through Saturday, but more so. More...
March 27, 2022
When a goddess descends
In 1963, the most exciting event occurred in our village since Florence smacked down Milan in the big battle of 1440—Claudia Cardinale came to town...
March 27, 2022
The affair
When Donella was in high school one of her favorite classes was art history. This was curious to me as I’d tried to interest her...