An Italian Pizza Party
Saturday night we had dinner with Michelangelo and Rossella and their daughter, Anna. Rossella made pizza, pizza, and more pizza. Remember how many times I’ve eaten pizza? Well, I outdid myself on Saturday. She made four pizzas and we ate all of them. Completely. I’ve tried to make pizza...
Italian Complications
I know it seems like my life is perfect (and for the most part it is right now – I’m continually pinching myself), however, we do have our share of complications. And they’re complications in Italian which is whole new sphere of weirdness. We recently ran some errands in...
Dinner with a View
Last night we had dinner at La Pieve Vecchia in Monterchi. It’s about 15 minutes from here and has an incredible terrace that overlooks the tiny hill towns of Monterchi and Citerna. Back in the day, there was a fierce rivalry between Monterchi and Citerna. Monterchi is in Tuscany...
Gelato, Pasta, Pizza, Pizza, Pasta, Gelato
I’ve said yes to gelato. After my first smug refusal, I have since had gelato three times. Would have been more if I had found some handy gelato place a couple of times. Gelato is a marvel of nature. I can go forever in the US without having ice...
Of Breezes and Mona Lisas
I am befuddled by this language. I know that English is a hard language to learn and we have many words that are the same but mean very different things (like “mean” – can be an adjective or a verb, pronounced the same, spelled the same, but completely different...
I Turn Down Gelato and Other Tales of the Unimaginable
We made it! We completed Step Number Five in our easy Five Step Plan to move to Italy. I can’t say it was the easiest of the Five Steps, but it was the last one and for that I was grateful. Our trip was long and frustrating, but otherwise...
From Pandemic to Italy in Five Easy Steps
People did a lot of crazy things during the pandemic. When faced with so much introspection, there’s no telling what you might come up with to keep yourself sane. How many people cleaned out closets, basements, attics? What about all the cooking that went on? We looked inside ourselves...
The Last Day
We’re back in Atlanta now. Our last couple of days in Italy were a whirlwind and I was often without internet access so I couldn’t post in real time. It seems cheating a bit to write about my time in Italy when I’m sitting in my living room in...
An Italian Festival Weekend
Our interlude with Tim and Julie has come to an end. It was an action packed few days and I think we may have done irreparable harm to their digestive systems, but it was great fun. Friends make everything better, don’t you think? Food. We ate so much of...
Italy by Italians
TIm and Julie have been here three full days and we’ve spent each day with different Italian friends. Seeing Italy with Italians is a completely different experience than seeing it with a guidebook. Don’t get me wrong, seeing it with a guidebook is wonderful. But there’s something very special...