Author: gigisimeone

When I moved to Philadelphia, I started hearing Italian-Americans talking about their Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes, a tradition with which I was not familiar. Of course, I do remember Christmas Eve, like Fridays, as a Catholic sacrificial fasting day, on which one was required to forgo meat. But my father never spoke … Continue reading 146. The Feast of the Two Fishes

One of the beauty parts of travel is that it stays with you, even long after you return home. The sights, the sounds, the smells -- the adventures, the triumphs, the unexpected -- are all to be savored in the months and years that follow. Even the catastrophes (one hopes) are not too catastrophic, and … Continue reading 145. Scenes of Italy

If you ever needed to win a debate as to whether Italy is the greatest food country in the world, you could do it with just one word: Autogrill. The chain of highway rest stops has reliably excellent sandwiches, pastries and pizzas, great coffee, and the larger ones have pasta, salads and entrees, too. Italians … Continue reading 144. More Food

It quite a feat to be known as the best food town in a country world famous for its cuisine. But Bologna, a city of 400,000 in the heart of Italy's Emilia-Romagna region, would give some of its better-known competitors a run for their money. So we decided to investigate this for ourselves. I normally … Continue reading 143. The Taste of Bologna

Venice is a place of such singular and breathtaking beauty that one just wanders about, awe-struck. I'm amazed I didn't walk into a canal, I spent so much time watching everything but where I was going. I was particularly interested in how people navigate the place, both figuratively and literally. How do people go about … Continue reading 142. The People of Venezia

I have always been a big fan of Stanley Tucci. But I must confess that over these bleak eighteen months of lockdown, he has loomed especially large in my consciousness. It began with his CNN show Searching for Italy that was must-see TV at our house and many others. For company, I learned to make … Continue reading 141. Searching for Stanley

I’ve never been much crazy about Venice or Florence, two of the big three when it comes to foreign travel to Italy. Florence is too filled with American college students — I can get that at home — and as far as Venice goes, if I wanted to be trapped in a mob of American … Continue reading 140. On the beaten path

We decided that this trip would be almost random, as the young people say. This vista -- in a regional park south of Ancona -- was worth the hike. Besides a few tent-post days in Venice and Bologna, we would set out each day for wherever fancy led us. That brought us first to L’Aquila … Continue reading 139. Off the Beaten Path

People are often started to here that I have no fear of driving in Italy. They picture cars careening down the autostrada at 100 miles per hour, with all the slowpokes forced off the road, dented, shaken, and vowing to never drive again. Actually, driving on major Italian roads is no different than driving on … Continue reading 138. Driving

When we made it home safe and sound in August from our first COVID-era trip to Italy, I breathed a deep sigh of relief and said, “Never, again. I will stay home, safe and sound, until this COVID thing is truly done and dusted.” And yet, barely two monthly later, we find ourselves in L’Aquila, … Continue reading 137. Here we go again