Author: gigisimeone

… dogs are welcome everywhere. … you are so passionate about your idol that you build your whole business around his image. … there is a parking section dedicated to Vespas. … there are two Catholic churches across the street from each other. … there are loads of bookstores, at least a dozen within a … Continue reading 178. You Know You’re in Italy When…

I usually think that I’m too cool for school when I’m in Italy. I insist on making all my own arrangement, avoiding restaurants with too much English in their signage, and above all, rejecting taking a tour. It’s hard to,pretend I’m a local (until I open my mouth) if I’m tagging along with a group … Continue reading 177. Another Food Tour

We travel overseas to be immersed in culture, whether that means the highest manifestation of the fine arts, or the everyday values and practices of the people. Bergamo and its sister city of Brescia shared the honor of being Italy’s 2023 Capitals of Culture, so we were eager to see what that was all about. … Continue reading 176. Culture

It’s been a long year, filled with illness, worry and several cancelled trips to Italy. But the clouds have started to lift, and this seemed like the perfect time to grab our chance, before something else went south. My arrival ritual is to have a cappuccino as soon as I land Having the luxury of … Continue reading 175. On the Road Again

No matter how many times I go to Italy, I am always an outsider looking in. Sure, each time I go, I become a little more familiar with the language, or comfortable navigating public transportation or able to know just how to get served in a coffee bar or market. I adjust, somewhat, to the … Continue reading 174. Human Chain

Save the Whales. Save the Bay. Save Lake Tahoe. Now we need to add Save the Olives to the list. Healthy Puglian olives, with the tool we used to harvest them from the lower branches Puglia, the region that comprises the heel of Italy's boot, is under dire threat of the Xylella bacterium, which has … Continue reading 173. Save the Olives

Busiate. Strangulet. Rasccatieddi di Miscchieddu. They're all types of pasta. In America, most people can rattle off maybe five: spaghetti, linguini, penne, tortellini, rigatoni. In Italy, there are hundreds of variations, many particular to a specific region or even a tiny hamlet. But as culture and customs become more homogenized, and as the remote villages … Continue reading 172. The Shape of Pasta

Katy Clarke is exactly the person I would be if I were smarter, braver, outgoing, enterprising and entrepreneurial. Like me, she has a passion for Italy, and an unending urge to explore every corner, taste every morsel, meet every person, and absorb every bit of the culture she can find. Unlike me, she has managed … Continue reading 171. Katy Clarke

A few weeks ago, my cousin Anna Abbrusseze sent me an email containing a short video that her daughter and grandchildren had made to celebrate her 80th birthday. The video consisted of them reading a translated letter written in 1915 by her mother, my great Aunt Mary, to her father Nick, when they were engaged … Continue reading 170. Voices across the century

Sometimes, the things you remember most are the little things. Not the big must-do attractions like the Colosseum or the Vatican, but the moments stumbled upon, that almost take you by surprise. Street Arts One such moment was in Florence. We were heading back to our hotel to make our way out of the city, … Continue reading 169. Magic Moments