You can do Siena in a day from Rome. You can do it, but you will be tired. I know this because I did it and regretted it slightly… we probably should have stayed the night. Siena is large enough to draw crowds (especially during July and August when the Palio is held in the […]
Category Archives: Italy
There are still a few slow, almost motionless days of late summer left. Perfect for doing nothing more ambitious than watching the laundry swing in the breeze. Decaying walls and threadbare sheets.
Oh yes. The most beautiful time of year – the vendemmia, or grape harvest. As the heat of Roman summer fades and gives way to cooler days, I am dreaming of an Umbrian escape just outside of Orvieto. Simona and Nick have just such an Umbrian escape, though they are lucky enough to call it […]
Most of the time, when I spend a day out in Rome or take a day trip, I do very little planning. I just know that I will spend my time wandering the streets, waiting to see what is around the corner. Big, small, after the rain, after the snow, dressed up for a holiday, […]
“Ape” means bee in Italian. Ape means “adorable” to me. Born out of necessity and ingenuity post-WWII, the Piaggio Ape is ubiquitous in Italy’s small towns, and even Rome’s smaller side streets. When it was created in the late 1940s, it was essentially a Vespa with an extra back wheel and a board in the […]
Real title: I’ve actually already killed these plants. But by god, they were lovely and delicious while they latest. From the walk home from the farmer’s market at Circo Massimo, to the whole three weeks I kept them semi-alive in Testaccio.
There is something about castles that appeals to my American sensibility. In fact, when driving near Vulci (Viterbo), I think I actually said: “Ohhhh! Look! Look! A castle! Can we stop!?” Seriously. Medieval towers and fields of poppies hold plenty of appeal. But the most impressive feature is not the castle at all, but the […]
A sagra is a festival, usually centered around a local delicacy. You can have sagre for porcini mushrooms, gnocchi, beer, lavender… but the sagra I most wanted to go near Rome is the sagra della fragole- the Nemi strawberry festival. With a fearless (and manual-transmission trained) fellow explorer, we navigated the strange world of Italian car […]