Okay, I'll admit it. That title is trying hard to be clever across two languages: In the Italian, "the beasts of Trieste" is a reference...

There’s a lot to say about nine days with five family members in such a stunning and storied spot as the Amalfi Coast. In the interest of...

Well, while many of you anglophools* were watching a florid Charles shuffle to the throne, I was watching the start of the race that...

This is a short post I’ve been meaning to write since I started this blog. For those on a budget, and even for those who are not, it’s...

From Pescara, Rosie and I dashed to the famous mosaic city of Ravenna in Emilia-Romagna, which I'd long wanted to visit. Ravenna once was...

(Wish you were here?) I’d planned this brief January trip to meet with Sergio, the property manager, to go over work to be done this...

Venice doesn’t just make me happy; it makes me aware that I’m happy. I guess that's at least partly because Venice wakes up my senses....

I can never get enough of Venice, so made a run there before I left Italian soil in October. This time, I was staying at the hotel Ai...

Well, I’m on a roll. I just had another stay in Italy with family members. This time, I was joined by my nephew, John, and his wife,...

This trip was a real departure for me. I’m accustomed to traveling to Italy alone, but this time I was flanked by a jaunty gaggle of...

I was robbed at Rome’s Tiburtina bus station last week. A Roma woman took my portfolio-style wallet with about $500 in cash, my passport,...

I arrived in Fossacesia in time for il raccolto, the olive harvest. The harvest here came a bit later than usual, in part due to rain...

My triumphant second arrival at the house in the epoch of Covid proved to be a trifle short of entirely triumphant. It started with the...

After weeks of dread prior to my departure — dread that I wouldn’t have the right Covid documents to enter Italy or get back into New...

Well, after 19 months away, I landed on Italian soil this morning. I must admit I wasn’t really looking forward to this trip because I’ve...

As I've mentioned earlier, Italians love to scold. They'll shake their heads, wag their fingers, cluck their tongues at you for all kinds...

I've just been looking through old notes about my experiences years ago in Florence, when I took an 8-week crash course in Italian...

My visit to Fossacesia this fall was full of wonderful surprises. The surprise of having friends here who only months ago were strangers...

Well, I’m just back from 12 days in Fossacesia and recovered from a 24-hour post-flight bug. (Thanks again, bacterial convention that is...

This unusual and simple pasta dish is one of my favorites. There’s a bit of Moorish influence in the Italian kitchen, and the Abruzzo...