Michelle Damiani
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Michelle Damiani
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    • Spello
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Michelle Damiani

writing with Italy at heart

Around the World

Michelle Damiani
  • Buy my books/
  • Blog/
  • Travel/
    • Spello
    • Visiting Umbria
    • Travel in Italy
    • Around the World
  • What I Love/
    • Gabe's Blog
    • Food and Drink
    • Books and Movies
    • Italian Cats and Hidden Madonnas
  • Coaching/
  • About/
October 26, 2024

Alone in the most romantic city in the world

October 26, 2024/ Michelle Damiani
Alone in the most romantic city in the world

This was not the trip I signed up for.

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October 26, 2024/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
Around the World, blog, travel
Paris, France, Food, Travel
August 12, 2024

Ignore the Guidebooks: Choose Ghent

August 12, 2024/ Michelle Damiani
Ignore the Guidebooks: Choose Ghent

 The guidebooks will tell you that Ghent makes a great half-day trip from Brussels or Bruges. They’re wrong.

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August 12, 2024/ Michelle Damiani/ 8 Comments
Around the World, blog, travel
belgium, Travel, food, beer
July 13, 2024

Why you should take your adult children to Amsterdam

July 13, 2024/ Michelle Damiani
Why you should take your adult children to Amsterdam

Hold onto your hats. Your family will never be the same.

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July 13, 2024/ Michelle Damiani/ 6 Comments
July 17, 2023

I've never been any place like Bilbao

July 17, 2023/ Michelle Damiani
I've never been any place like Bilbao

Well, my socks are officially knocked off.

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July 17, 2023/ Michelle Damiani/ 1 Comment
travel, Around the World
spain, Travel, Family
June 08, 2023

Finding my Moment in Scotland

June 08, 2023/ Michelle Damiani
Finding my Moment in Scotland

Isle of Skye is not just bananas, it is unhinged.

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June 08, 2023/ Michelle Damiani/ 10 Comments
travel, blog, Around the World
UK, Scotland, Travel, travel
April 27, 2023

Trains and graves and fairies: From London to Edinburgh to Skye

April 27, 2023/ Michelle Damiani
Trains and graves and fairies: From London to Edinburgh to Skye

Alternative title for this article: “Visiting Scotland—What to read and how to avoid mortal peril.”

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April 27, 2023/ Michelle Damiani/ 7 Comments
travel, blog, Around the World
UK, Scotland, food
April 17, 2023

Pubs + Football = Spring Break London!

April 17, 2023/ Michelle Damiani
Pubs + Football = Spring Break London!

How we began our trip to the UK with a stop in London for a Premier League Game, including directions for how you, too, can include this experience in your trip.

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April 17, 2023/ Michelle Damiani/ 2 Comments
Around the World, blog, travel
UK, London, family, food, Travel
August 31, 2022

To Toulouse!

August 31, 2022/ Michelle Damiani
To Toulouse!

All about my visit to Toulouse, a rose-colored wonder.

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August 31, 2022/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
Around the World, travel
France, Travel, Food
August 07, 2022

Beginning Again: Painting in the Pyrenees

August 07, 2022/ Michelle Damiani
Beginning Again: Painting in the Pyrenees

How I became a beginner again, surrounded by the excellent food and jaw-dropping beauty of a France few tourists see.

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August 07, 2022/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
travel, blog, Around the World
France
October 14, 2021

Paris: The Final Curtain on a Year Abroad

October 14, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
Paris: The Final Curtain on a Year Abroad

How France’s City of Light shed clarity on a year in Italy.

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October 14, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
blog, Around the World, travel
France, Family, Travel, Food
September 19, 2021

Bonjour, France

September 19, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
Bonjour, France

Dear France, remember me?

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September 19, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
blog, travel
France, travel
February 18, 2021

Camping? In Switzerland?!?

February 18, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
Camping? In Switzerland?!?

I know you wish you could travel. File this post under, “At least Michelle is doing legwork for me so when the travel gates open, I’m guaranteed a phenomenal trip.”

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February 18, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
travel
travel, switzerland
February 15, 2021

Sledding in heart of Switzerland

February 15, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
Sledding in heart of Switzerland

Who knew that mountain fun could be had in Switzerland, even for non-skiers?

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February 15, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
travel, blog
switzerland, travel, sledding, winter
February 11, 2021

Surprised by Switzerland

February 11, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
Surprised by Switzerland

I’m glad I didn’t prepare for this.

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February 11, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
blog, travel
switzerland
March 10, 2020

Kid-Free in NYC

March 10, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Kid-Free in NYC

How to enjoy an exciting trip to America’s iconic city. Without children.

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March 10, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
travel, blog
NYC
April 07, 2019

Whistler, British Columbia

April 07, 2019/ Michelle Damiani
Whistler, British Columbia

What we enjoyed at the Whistler resort in British Columbia.

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April 07, 2019/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
travel
Canada, ski, family
November 17, 2016

Quebec City, Winter Wonderland

November 17, 2016/ Michelle Damiani
Quebec City, Winter Wonderland

French food and language, blurred with frontier sensibility, lie due North.

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November 17, 2016/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
travel
Canada
October 17, 2016

Tips for Newbie Families Traveling to Southeast Asia on a Budget

October 17, 2016/ Michelle Damiani
Tips for Newbie Families Traveling to Southeast Asia on a Budget

Thinking of exploring SE Asia as a family? Start here.

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October 17, 2016/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
travel
Asia, budget, family
October 09, 2016

Go in Curious (the benefits of SE Asia)

October 09, 2016/ Michelle Damiani
Go in Curious (the benefits of SE Asia)

How Asia keeps you curious, and therefore traveling more intentionally.

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October 09, 2016/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
travel
Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Asia
October 06, 2016

Relaxing in Southeast Asia

October 06, 2016/ Michelle Damiani
Relaxing in Southeast Asia

Asia is intense. Plan accordingly.

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October 06, 2016/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
travel
Asia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos
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    • Italian Cats and Hidden Madonnas
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Michelle Damiani

Website for Michelle Damiani, author of Il Bel Centro: A Year in the Beautiful Center, the funny and heartfelt memoir of an American family living in Spello, as well as Santa Lucia, a page-turner set on the Umbria border. 

Rumors. Romance. And more than a little espresso.

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Big news, friends — I’m swapping out my original idea for a travel writing tour in Puglia and leaning into something I’m even more excited about: Book Club with a View! Picture this: a week of book discussions under the sun of
I wanted to break out my new European passport for the first time on Italian soil, but maybe it was good and right that first use happened in Paris, my mothers birthplace.
What is it about cats and Italy? Even an American cat in Italy, wondering how to run amok over those terra cotta rooftops.
We weren’t sure if we’d walk out with one, two, or three Italian passports. So imagine our delight when the kids’ renewals and my application were easily processed! Okay, the family wasn’t nearly as delighted as they were the
Thursday was your culmination of 13 school years: One in Italian public school, 7 at Peabody, one of pandemic unschooling in Spello, 4 at CHS, plus courses at UVA, PVCC, and schools I don’t know because you enrolled in on-line classes & inf
Happy anniversary to a man who can build a pizza oven with his own two hands, designs a cover for that pizza oven with an image from the flower carpet our family worked on for Spello’s Infiorata (a peak experience for the five of us), arranges

A trip to Italy is better with language basics! Here’s my recommended course to learn Italian and make your trip fantastico!


Festival participant, speaking about “Il Bel Centro: A Year in the Beautiful Center”

Festival participant, speaking about “Il Bel Centro: A Year in the Beautiful Center”

Featured speaker on panel discussing Romance for “Santa Lucia”

Featured speaker on panel discussing Romance for “Santa Lucia”