Michelle Damiani
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Michelle Damiani
  • Buy my books/
  • Blog/
  • Travel/
    • Spello
    • Visiting Umbria
    • Travel in Italy
    • Around the World
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    • Books and Movies
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    • Gabe's Blog
    • Italian Cats and Hidden Madonnas
  • Coaching/
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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/
    • Books and Movies
    • Food and Drink
    • Gabe's Blog
    • Italian Cats and Hidden Madonnas
  • Coaching/
  • About/
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/ 3 Comments
travel, Around the World
spain, Travel, Family
October 09, 2015

Tapas, Tapas, Tapas

October 09, 2015/ Michelle Damiani
Tapas, Tapas, Tapas

I'll be quite frank. Tapas are really one of the best parts of visiting Sevilla. Because they are tasty, sure, but also because of how marvelous the experience is.

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October 09, 2015/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
travel
spain
October 09, 2015

Savoring Sevilla

October 09, 2015/ Michelle Damiani
Savoring Sevilla

Sevilla is a moveable feast, a feast for the senses. The air smells of oranges and incense and garlic, and something indefinable that is probably tapas cooking at the neighborhood bar—tapas that you can purchase with just the change in your pocket.

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October 09, 2015/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
travel
spain
October 09, 2015

History in Andalusia

October 09, 2015/ Michelle Damiani
History in Andalusia

Besides tapas and wandering and churros and wandering, we also enjoyed some historical sites during our stay in Spain. It's interesting to me how some of those really spoke to me, to all of us, and some were interesting but did not move us at all.

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October 09, 2015/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
travel
spain
  • Buy my books/
  • Blog/
  • Travel/
    • Spello
    • Visiting Umbria
    • Travel in Italy
    • Around the World
  • What I Love/
    • Books and Movies
    • Food and Drink
    • Gabe's Blog
    • Italian Cats and Hidden Madonnas
  • Coaching/
  • About/

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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It’s here! My brand-new gift guide for Italy Lovers 🇮🇹, created for anyone who dreams in espresso foam and drifts through life imagining they’re strolling a sun-splashed piazza.

This year’s guide is all about slowing down and sav
Grapevine subscribers! New chapter in your mailbox 10 AM local time. I hope you enjoy my eight ways to bring Italy into your home this season ❤️ not signed up? Link in my bio! Fast and easy and as a special welcome to the Grapevine community, I&rsquo
We were winding our way toward Matera when @max_brunelli turned off route, citing something he had to show us. That’s how we ended up in Castelmezzano, a village so impossibly perched and perfectly proportioned it looks like a presepe—an
DON’T STRESS THE MOZZARELLA! This was my takeaway message from the buffalo mozzarella farm, our first Book Club with a View Stop. Apparently, how one cuts the mozzarella is important to avoid stressing it. I can’t give you any tips becaus
From hazelnut-filled hills of garnet and gold to whitewashed villages perched above a brilliant blue sea, this last trip reminded me that Italy contains multitudes. The luckiest part? Traveling through the Mezzogiorno with @max_brunelli of @ciaoandia
Danger is simmering in Aramezzo, and Stella is about to find herself in the middle of the pot. After all, in Umbria, pasta isn’t the only thing that’s twisted.

I’m thrilled to share that “Making a Killing in Aramezzo”,
Landing in Naples after drifting dreamily through Piedmont was like stepping off a cloud and directly into a drum circle. It’s all Italy, yes—but Italy is twenty regions stitched together only in 1861, so expecting them to feel the same i
Last year in Spello, I watched a hunter-looking guy sprint past my restaurant table, a basket of massive porcini in hand. Before I could even mourn not snapping a photo, Mirko—the owner—appeared, proudly presenting his haul.
Cut to last m
Fossano… another delightful town in Italy’s Piedmont region!
Living in Umbria for two years, I got up close and personal with Umbrian wines. I adore them. But thanks to Brenda and Graziano of @vinosofiaspello , I also got a crash course in Italy’s astonishingly varied wine terrain. Years ago, over dinner

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”