Posts Tagged ‘Italy’
More writing inspiration on the slopes
As this post goes out, I’ll be wrapping up a great week with my family out on the ski slopes of Italy’s Abruzzo region. I always look forward to a week-long skiing break (heck, if I could, I’d make it a month-long skiing break), and my kids are avid skiers. I’ve written before on skiing…
Read MoreReason #5371 to love Rome: Emperor Augustus
‘Marmoream relinquo, quam latericiam accepi’ – I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble. Okay, you may not love Emperor Augustus already (thought by many to be Ancient Rome’s greatest emperor), but you’re bound to enjoy the exhibition organized at Rome’s Scuderie del Quirinale to mark the 2000th anniversary of…
Read MoreBeautiful writing and imagery in the film ‘Io sono Li’
A good book can often keep me up long past my bedtime, but I must admit that it’s extremely rare that television has the same effect on me. Still, recently I began watching a film late one night on Italian television, and simply couldn’t tear myself away. It was a simple film, with minimal action…
Read MoreReason #5370 to love Rome: The Appia antica
Even after years of living in Rome, I’m often struck by how truly beautiful it is. My son plays tennis at a club just off the Ancient Roman road, the Appia antica – the Appian way. When I see him play, I can also take a walk along these beautiful, ancient cobblestones lined with cypresses…
Read MoreReason #5369 to love Rome: The modern Jubilee Church
When one thinks of Rome, it is not generally modern architecture that comes to mind. And yet, many of today’s ‘starchitects’ have undertaken major projects here in the Eternal City. Renzo Piano built Rome’s Auditorium, Zaha Hadid the MAXXI Museum (Both in Rome’s Flaminio neighborhood). Massimiliano Fuksas’ ‘Cloud’ Roman Congress Center is currently being built…
Read MoreReason #5368 to love Rome: History around every corner
You can’t spend ten minutes in Rome without realizing how true this is. Rome is a city that lives and plays around its antiquities. Each day, we walk over the fabulous subterranean remains of the Roman Empire – sadly, only few of them open to the public, although many can be arranged with advance appointments.…
Read MoreStrange 16th century creatures and demons at Bomarzo’s Monster Park
The Parco dei mostri (Monster Park) of Bomarzo, in northern Lazio, makes a great day trip from Rome. The whimsical park is almost five hundred years old. In 1552, following the death of his wife, a grieving Prince Pier Francesco Orsini oversaw the construction of a park filled with sculptures of ogres, snakes, dragons and…
Read MoreGreetings from the Matera Women’s Fiction Festival!
I’m writing this in advance, as I’ll have my hands full attending the annual Matera Women’s Fiction Festival when this is posted. This is my third year attending, so I know what an (enjoyable) hectic pace it is. Here’s what I’ll be doing when this goes on-line: First, I’ll be busy eating and drinking well.…
Read MoreWhere to stay in Matera, Italy?
Okay, this the transparent attempt of a traveller – to start dreaming about a place before an upcoming trip by imagining the place, digging thorough old photos, etc. Tomorrow, I’m off to Matera for my annual mecca to the Women’s Fiction Festival, and I’m anxious to be back to this beautiful southern Italian town. Over…
Read MoreMy story, Amica del cuore, will be published in the Far Flung and Foreign anthology
Recently I got the news that my short story, Amica del cuore, will be published in the annual anthology of Writers Abroad. I wrote about the call for contributions in an earlier post. The title of this year’s anthology is Far Flung and Foreign, and contributors to this year’s anthology were asked to contribute a…
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