Palermo has long had a bad reputation. Ground zero for the mafia, they say. Dirty. A port city only good to take you elsewhere. Gone are those days. Now Palermo is a favorite for hipsters throughout Italy. Curious Italians are giving it a second chance and international travelers choose it as an introduction to Southern Italy – the… Read more »
Isola Madre and Isola Bella are apart of the Borromean islands on Lago Maggiore in Northern Italy. Originally created for the Borromeo family, the islands along with much of the tourist attractions in the Gulf of Borromeo are owned to this day by the family. Originally rocky outposts, over the course of nearly five centuries… Read more »
Embracing change in one aspect of your life has a sort of snowball effect: It will usually roll change through all aspects of your life. Deciding to marry an Italian and move to Italy five years ago is a clear example – every aspect of my life was changed! Now, welcoming sweet baby Adeline into our lives, the… Read more »
Embracing change in one aspect of your life has a sort of snowball effect: It usually rolls change through all aspects of your life. (Read: Embracing Change. Nothing embodies the unknown like a new baby.) Deciding to marry an Italian and move to Italy four years ago is a clear example – every aspect of my life was changed! Now,… Read more »
A perfect day-trip from Verona, Soave nevertheless sits nearly completely unknown in the rolling green hills of Veneto. Pronounced “so-AH-vey”, like the Spanish “smooth”, it means “sweet, pleasing to the senses.” And isn’t it though? We stopped for lunch in the fortressed town on our way home from a weekend in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Just another name on the… Read more »
Snapshots of Rome, Italy: A day in the Eternal City. It would take an eternity to truly understand Rome, to explore its cobblestone alleyways, to get lost in the nooks and crannies of every park, boulevard and museum. History seeps into the stones that build the city, each step superimposed atop another’s. Unfortunately, most of us don’t… Read more »
Lake Como is surrounded by ville. White, yellow and rose-colored mansions perch on the hills around the lake, perfectly complemented by their extravagant, well-manicured gardens. This time I visited the extravagant, well-manicured Villa Carlotta. Last year I decided that I’d had enough of visiting ancient palaces. I was over paying to tour rich dead people’s homes. Their gardens,… Read more »
There’s more to Lake Como than its namesake town or potential George Clooney sightings. The Lake itself is beautiful, with glistening blue water backdropped by the foothills of the Alps. The road that winds along the bank slices into and out of the mountains, disappearing before suddenly reemerging and founding cities along the way. Huge cyprus trees… 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 »
Italy is a land of love. From the balconies of Verona (the Italian city of Love), the canals of Venice, the grottos of southern Italy or simply the park near my back yard, the land is just damn romantic. It’s as easy to find love on the peninsula as it is beauty. Check out some of the… Read more »
