Ahh Milano
Ahh, Milano… She enchants me still… after 17 years. Though I’ve now been in all 20 regions of Italy, what keeps me going back to Milano? So much stimulation, inspiration, satisfaction. It’s one of...
Italian Food: Eating in Italy
My number one recommendation when in Italy is to find out what the hyper-local food specialty is and choose that! There are foods you’ll find in one town, that are not available 50 kilometers away....
The Hospitality of Sardegna
Open-hearted people. I was welcomed with warm smiles and home-cooked meals… and they didn’t even know me! Sardegna. (Sardinia, if you speak English.) I flew out of Napoli (Naples), with a sight of...
The Feast of San Gennaro in Naples
The plan was to be in Naples in mid-September… so how could that plan NOT put us there for the the Feast of San Gennaro, the climax of which fell on September 19?! We missed the early morning mass...
Archaeology and Sculpture in Naples
It inspires awe in me to stand before a stone, carved with text, from the end of the 4th century B.C. To envision the people that crafted this work, who they were, what their lives were like. And to...
An Eyeful in Naples
Naples filled me to the brim in all the most satisfying and stimulating ways. My mind is still awhirl a week after having left that buzzing, frenetic place. One of the ways I was most captivated was...
Naples – Napoli, Napoli, Napoli!
Go. In 2009, I was in Naples for just a 45-minute taxi ride, from the train station to the marina, catching a boat to the Island of Ischia. Not nearly enough time! This time, FIVE NIGHTS in Naples,...
Matera, a Marvelous Rabbit Warren of Stone
Matera, Basilicata, at the “instep” of the “the boot” of Italy. It’s been on my list for several years since I saw an article and my jaw dropped. Now, having visited, I’m still agog and without...
Puglia to Basilicata
We left Puglia (Apulia in English) and headed to our next destination in the region of Basilicata: Matera. We stopped to see a couple of castles, in Barletta and Andria, (there are castles at every...
Twinkling Toes in the Ionian Sea
For my birthday several days ago, I REALLY, REALLY wanted to dip my toes into the Ionian Sea at the tippy tippy tip of the “heel of the boot” of Italy. That meant driving from Bari, south along the...
Bari, Puglia, in the Heel of the Boot
This is a southern Italy tour for me, to include the regions of Puglia (Bari, Polignano a Mare, Santa Maria di Leuca, Barletta, Cerignola), Basilicata (Matera), Campania (Napoli). Sardegna will...
Home again in Italia!
Flying into Milano yesterday evening, (after a very long day of cancelled and delayed flights) I felt emotional and got a little teary-eyed. This is my seventeenth year of making this journey, coming back for a month or more to see friends, visit new and treasured places, and eat some of my favorite dishes as well as venture untried regional specialities.