Our road trip in Friuli Venezia Giulia came suddenly, after we decided to cancel our trip to Turkey. My Italian-American origins are from a small town in Friuli and I’d always imagined visiting with my dad, maybe heading to the no-name towns he somehow found to visit unknown relatives. Things change though and trip plans change. The best way to… Read more »
Last April Marco and I went with two friends on a weekend road trip. The first road trip we went on together was from Milan to Umbria, in a weekend tour of just a small part of the region. This time, we decided to tour the Val d’Orcia region in the south of Tuscany. The region is characterized by… Read more »
There’s nothing like a road trip in summer. Though a road trip is typically thought of as a classic American institution, a road trip in Italy can be just as great. Yet I’ve noticed that most travelers to Italy do anything possible to avoid driving in Italy. I understand; the roads are small, the traffic dense and the… Read more »
The long, winding country roads, fields and fields of grapes separated only by cypresses and the nearly deserted hill towns in Tuscany lend themselves perfectly to a classic road trip. But it’s not the only way to see the Tuscan hills. Though the smallest towns are difficult to reach by public transportation, some of Tuscany’s most famous… Read more »
Lombardy is a region unfairly overlooked by international travelers. I know, I know, Tuscany’s charm is far-reaching, Venice’s (because few go beyond the city) fame international, but Lombardy has cosmopolitan Milan and tiny villages dotting the mountainside. It has Alpine peaks and undulating rice fields. It has university towns, thermal spas, ski resorts and world-class cuisine. Though… Read more »
So you’re a native English speaker, huh? Somehow, from no effort of your own, you were born speaking fluently the world’s predominant language. The linga franca, if you will. Lucky you! You can now read, write, use the Internet, travel and work with ease. You respond to any speaker in English, confident that they’ll understand you… Read more »
So you want to live abroad? I get it. You want that kick-ass expat life, filled with every single beautiful film or Instagram image you’ve ever seen of Italy. You’ll have it all – fast paced city life with gorgeous vespas zooming by driven by gorgeous people, and the sweet rolling hills of the countryside…. Read more »
In January my friend and I were able to convince our apprehensive husbands to go on a trip to Istanbul, Turkey in March. It’s been years since I’ve wanted to go and Marco knew that. It seemed with cheap flights and a long weekend available for everyone, now was the perfect time. Then on January 12, the day… Read more »
Planning a trip is half of the fun of travel. Somehow a destination is planted inside my head. It sits there, sometimes for weeks and sometimes for years, and grows with each photo, article, TV show or blog post I see. Because I know it’s in there, everything I see or read about the destination is stored away until I have… Read more »
Everybody wants to travel, but nobody wants to be considered a tourist. Slow travel is the idea to travel mindfully. Its thesis is that travel shouldn’t be a jam-packed itinerary of eating, snapping photos, throwing out your trash out and leaving. Travelers should focus on experiences, not items on a list. It’s a movement to… Read more »
