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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
"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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
Descriptions of modern high-end houses often brag about having a private theater where one can gather with friends and watch a movie. Starting in the...
Here are some of my favorite adventures and discoveries of the year. If you've stuck with me this long you know that as much as...
The echoes of WWII are all around us here. The war is not an abstract thing—I have a friend who found a bomb in the...
Friends of ours have a daughter who is a fairly new driver. She borrowed her parents' car to drive a friend to the train station....
Italy's largest cities—Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples, and Bologna—recently held mayoral elections, as did our village. Perhaps our election was less covered in the international press,...
The Second Annual French Road Trip—also known as The Paris Haircut Trip—concluded recently. This time John was with me and I wanted to share with...
We had to ask ourselves this question about a bucolic, beautiful, tiny island in the Stockholm archipelago, Rödlöga, four hours by ferry from the capital....
