On Thursday afternoon, when my daughter Lizy texted me “American Pope!” followed by “Villanova grad, from Chicago!” I thought it was the set-up for a joke. After all, we had been in St. Peter’s Square just a few hours earlier, and it looked like a normal day. I had expected to see priests engaged in … Continue reading 211. We Have a Pope!
Whenever I am going to be in Rome, I always reach out on Facebook to my cousin Clara in the hopes that she will arrange a get-together with my relatives. Clara learned English in high school 65 years ago, so she comes the closest in the group to being competently bilingual English-Italian. (If you’re wondering … Continue reading 210. Family
I come from a long line of artists. My Aunt Rose Casella went solo to Perugia in the 1930s to study painting, an endeavor I’m sure was highly unusual for an American young woman. My Aunt Gloria Casella was a graduate of the Art Institute in Chicago, arguably the best art school in the country. … Continue reading 209. Tiny Pieces
I love a routine. When I’m home, you can nearly set your watch by me. I know that many find the daily grind oppressive; I find the yawning expanse of time on the weekend to be a little depressing. I am a TGIM person: Thank God it’s Monday! But this experience of having a full … Continue reading 208. The Gift of Time
I had the great good fortune to be in Bologna for 25 Aprile, a national holiday that marks the anniversary of the day that Italy was liberated from Nazi occupation and the remnants of Fascism. This day is especially resonant in Bologna, the last Fascist stronghold liberated by the partigiani, or partisans. It took the … Continue reading 207. Liberation Day
When I first started coming to Italy with some regularity in the 1990s, nearly everyone looked like me. Yes, you would see young men from Africa selling counterfeit purses laid out on blankets on the streets, and women dressed in traditional Romani dress with their children, often begging, but they were visible and notable exceptions … Continue reading 206. Immigrati
I don’t consider myself a spiritual person. I don’t even understand what people mean when they say they are. But there is something about doing one of those long pilgrimage walks, the most famous being the Camino de Santiago through Spain and France, that has always intrigued me. A while back, I learned about the … Continue reading 205. Walking the Walk
September will mark my 55th year of trying to learn the Italian language, starting with two resentful years in college to fulfill the language requirement, and continuing to today: the past twenty years or so, I’ve met every Monday evening with a group of friends for Italian conversation. One might think I’m being modest when … Continue reading 204. Learning the Lingo
I’ve arrived! And after having my ritual welcome cappuccino, the next step is planning. What now? What’s next? Even though we slept pretty well on the flight over, we were a little too dazed to do anything too ambitious. But because it’s Italy, and because we’re us, we were not too dazed to start making … Continue reading 203. Going with the flow
Now it's for real. On Friday, I leave for a six-week adventure in Italy. A year ago, I applied for and received Wellesley College's Mary Elvira Stevens Traveling Fellowship, for my proposal for intensive language study and cultural immersion in Italy. According to the will of Ms. Stevens, Class of 1891, the Fellowship should go … Continue reading 202. Here I Go!
Gigi's Italia 