May 30, 2019

We have a plan!

May 30, 2019/ Michelle Damiani

Romance, danger, neon lights, sandy vistas—this trip is turning into something infinitely more evocative than any fiction I could write.

April 23, 2019

Hold the telefono

April 23, 2019/ Michelle Damiani

I’m having second thoughts.

February 25, 2019

Will the real Santa Lucia please stand?

February 25, 2019/ Michelle Damiani

Behind Santa Lucia’s curtain stands a real-life town that got under my skin in surprising ways.

January 26, 2019

What's bigger than a bucket?

January 26, 2019/ Michelle Damiani

We’re discussing our possible destination and the list is…huge. How can we whittle them down?

January 08, 2019

Hello, Italian Passports

January 08, 2019/ Michelle Damiani

Our big news!

December 06, 2018

Oh, the Places We'll Go

December 06, 2018/ Michelle Damiani

How we decided on our next adventure and what we’re envisioning as we hatch our plans.

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.

The Silent Madonna: Book Two of the Santa Lucia Series

A ruined castle. A town picking up the pieces. And a mysterious stranger who could change everything.

The Road Taken: How to Dream, Plan, and Live Your Family Adventure Abroad

Loaded with inspiration and practicality, “The Road Taken” will set your feet on the path to your family dream, and show you how to make it happen. Because you owe it to yourself and your family to consider discovering the world together.

Santa Lucia: Book One of the Santa Lucia Series

Santa Lucia is the contemporary saga of an Italian town on the brink of change, and the villagers that call it home. Awarded a place in the 25th annual Virginia Festival of the Book

Il Bel Centro: A Year in the Beautiful Center

By Michelle Damiani

A year in Umbria transforms an American family. Read how it all began. Did you finish IBC and want to know what happened next? Get the FREE Epilogue by clicking the button below! Awarded a place in the 2016 Virginia Festival of the Book

Free Epilogue

Featured speaker on panel discussing Romance for “Santa Lucia”

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They tell you the parenting—it passes quickly. A blip in your timeline, and that baby nestled in the crook of your neck is waving goodbye as he gets on the airplane. And it’s true. True in a way that you can’t really understand until you walk out of your child’s dorm room with no idea what he’ll be eating for dinner. I tell you this not to alarm you—there are already too many alarms in parenting. Not to shame you into putting down that novel you’re reading (or this post) to play Thomas the Tank Engine for the zillionth thankless hour— parenting is already filled with too many unrealizable expectations. I tell you this for only one reason. In the hopes that you figure out what your family does well together and do that thing with all your heart. So that when that sodden yet golden hour comes and you say farewell to that piece of your heart, you have memories to lean into, and patterns of being together that you can build a life around with your adult children. Who are still, no matter what they protest, still your babies. . . . . . #familytravel #familytravels #travelwithteens #travelwithkids #kiawahisland #exploremore #familytraveltribe #travelers #travelphotography #trip #familyadventures #adventurefamily #familyadventure #takeyourkidseverywhere #adventurekids #familytrip #familytrips

You know those moments that are almost too much #travel adventure? Seeing this fellow in our backyard lagoon on #kiawah ranks up there. #traveladventure #familytravel #travelvideos #eek

We had to lose Paris from our global itinerary. But the upside is two weeks back home in Spello. It’ll be November, so not as flower filled as in this video from last summer, but those bells... . . . . . #spello #umbria #igers_italy #travelmemories #aroundtheworld #italy🇮🇹 #Italy #italia #italytravel #italy_hidden_gems #umbriagram #italygram #travelgram #travelvideos #travelinspiration #travelblogger #traveling #travelholic

Our last morning in #NYC, and we stumbled on a cafe that looked good so we took a seat. Soon we noticed waves of student tour groups speaking... Italian! And taking photos. Looked it up and realized we’d accidentally found the cafe that brought the cappuccino to America! After our year in Italy, I love finding Italian wherever we travel. I hope we find bits of Italy during our global year. (Great sfogliatelle, too) . . . . . #nyceats #iloveitaly #familytravel #travelfam #italytravel #pastries #yumyum #greenwichvillage #caffereggio #travelwithteens

A city like #nyc, where it’s easy to confuse a shop with a gallery, makes me really think about the nature of #art. Here’s my piece of art, standing in front of art at the #fordfoundation. #nofilterneeded #motherdaughter #travelfam #familytravel #motherdaughtertrip #travelblogger

There are places you go because they have broad appeal, and places you go because, for one reason or another, they live in your heart. Today I visited the Leonard Street Library in Brooklyn, where Betty Smith discovered a love of reading, and where she had her character, Francie Nolan, do the same in #atreegrowsinbrooklyn... it’s been my favorite book since I first read it at 11 years old and visiting today was like coming home. Just wish there’d been a brown bowl. #brooklyn #library #bookworm #readersofinstagram #bookwormsofinstagram

It’s our third mother-daughter NYC trip and I’m feeling unbelievably blessed. #familytravel #exploremore #nyc #chinatown #motherdaughter #traveling

I’m not a dog person or a snow person but I learned in Quebec that I can be both. I wonder what new things I’ll learn about myself on our family global journey? . . . . . #mytravelgram #instatravel #quebec #dogstagram #winteradventures #familyadventure #travel #traveling #travelling #travelbloggers #globaljourney #familytravel #travelfam #familytraveller #dogsledding #visitquebec

It’s amazing how you can think you know how something is supposed to taste and then you eat it where it comes from and it’s like HOLY CRAP. What I’ve called a clementine and is called a “mandarino” in Italy tastes like nothing I’ve ever imagined possible. So orange it almost tasted like pine. What flavors have surprised you when traveling? . . . . . #travelblog #travelfam #tasteoftravel #italianfruit #procida #amalfi #exploremore #igers_italy #italy #postcardsfromtheworld #foodietravel #foodiefamily #visitamalfi #travelling #travels #discoveries #italianflavour #travellingthroughtheworld #traveldeeper

This is what one year out from a grand adventure looks like. Maps and atlases and guide books and Nat Geo’s everywhere. And yet, it’s still the personal connection that drives the momentum. Gabe had a teacher in his summer game theory class from Lithuania, and now he’s all about it. He even wrote a blog post for me (link in profile, under what I love, Gabe’s blog). Short story: now I know not only where Lithuania is but how it connects to Russia. And, according to Gabe, how we’ll be biking there. ‪.‬ ‪.‬ ‪.‬ ‪.‬ ‪.‬ ‪#familieswhotravel‬ #travelblog #familytravelblog #familytravelbloggers #raisingtravelers #travelfam #offtoseetheworld #roamtheworld #havekidswilltravel #maps #welltraveledkids #borntotravel #involvethekids #lithuania #baltic #exploretogether #exploretogrow #worldschooling #mapoftheworld

We’re now a year away from leaping into our year around the world! China, Belgium, Albania, Lithuania... ready for us? Find out more about our itinerary, link in profile! ‪.‬ ‪.‬ ‪.‬ ‪.‬ ‪.‬ ‪#travelmemories‬ #travelinspiration #travelinspired #luangprabang #laos #ig_laos #southeastasia #familytravel #familytravels #travelwithkids #traveling #travelling #exploremore #aroundtheworld #aroundtheworldpics #destinations #offbeattravel #travelmore #travelwriter #travelblogger

Hey #bookworms, come to a reading at @chopsueybooks this Saturday at 7 PM! I’ll be reading from “The Silent Madonna” and @douglawson will read from “Bigfoots in Paradise”... so you’ll get romance / suspense in an Italian village AND fast moving and touching stories about awkward, lost adults who just won’t grow up. #freevent #rva #weekendplans #bookworm #localauthor #bookevent #freereading

Sometimes family can be the biggest, and most wonderful, trip of all. #dorayalfonso #magicalwedding #sisters #family

Sometimes the Sonoran desert is so ridiculous it doesn’t even seem real. Do you know places like that? #desert #nogales #arizona #exploremore #travelgrammer #instatravel

Scenes from the border... #nofilter #travelgrammer #travel #mexico #arizona #nogales #bordercrossing #exploremore

For the bloom where you are planted files... spring in #Charlottesville reminds me how wonderful a home base can be. #flowers #dogwood #spring #bloom #cville #beauty

Travel means food adventures! Here’s Gabe tucking into food that just might bite him back in Sicily. #foodtraveler #familytravel #travelwithkids #sicily🇮🇹 #favignana #foodiegram #travelgrammer #travelblogger

What is there in the world more beautiful to see than teenage Buddhist monks frolicking in a waterfall? #laos #buddhistmonks #luangprabang #waterfall #exploremore #travel #traveling #familytravel #postcardplaces #seetheworld #theroadtaken

This photo sums up so much about what I love about #italy... pink stone walls,quiet alleys, hidden devotions, ancient spaces, and freedom. #italy🇮🇹 #italyiloveyou #italian #italiandays #italiandays🇮🇹 #familytravel #familytravels #travelwithkids #ig_italia #ig_italy #igers_italia #igers_italy #spello #umbria #theroadtaken #travelmemories #travelholic

Our last adventure was a year in an Italian village. Our next will be a year around the world. It means more novelty and discoveries, but also less connection. I know we won’t be able to build the relationships we did in Spello, like this one with my beloved Italian teacher, at our favorite pizza restaurant. Will the constant exploration make up for the lack of settled relationships? I wonder... #spello #umbria #familytravel #familytravels #globalcitizen #exploremore #travelblog #italian #travelwriting

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Michelle Damiani, Author

🎉 CONTEST! 🎊 Happening on my FB author page! Get a free book for you and a friend! #freebook #giveaway #memoir… https://t.co/UWyKns93zS
Aug 22, 2019, 10:13 PM
Michelle Damiani, Author

RT @MarcheTourismEN: "For many years, the southern Marche region was an unknown gem, hiding in plain sight halfway down Italy’s eastern… https://t.co/1OmX3JfBfX
Aug 20, 2019, 7:05 AM
Michelle Damiani, Author

They tell you the parenting—it passes quickly. A blip in your timeline, and that baby nestled in the crook of your… https://t.co/EzR3xwUX1H
Aug 19, 2019, 4:49 PM

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

Blog

Chronicling our return home from a year in Umbria and the preparations for our around-the-world journey.