Michelle Damiani
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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/
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Michelle Damiani

writing with Italy at heart

Blog

The journey continues.

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/

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


February 14, 2022

The Five Marriage Myths

February 14, 2022/ Michelle Damiani
The Five Marriage Myths

A lot of conventional wisdom about marriage is flat out wrong.

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February 14, 2022/ Michelle Damiani/ 7 Comments
blog, Family
Family
September 14, 2020

Village-Schooled

September 14, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Village-Schooled

Our kids are getting an education the likes of which we dared not dream.

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September 14, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 12 Comments
Family, blog
language, art, kids, Spello
September 06, 2020

What can I say?

September 06, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
What can I say?

No, really. I find myself with writer’s block about how to tell you about our release from quarantine.

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September 06, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 2 Comments
blog, Family
Spello
August 19, 2020

Italian Quarantine, week 2

August 19, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Italian Quarantine, week 2

9 lessons I learned in Italian “quarantena”

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August 19, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 8 Comments
Family, blog, Around the World
Spello, quarantine, Family, Il Bel Centro
August 12, 2020

Italian Quarantine, week one

August 12, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Italian Quarantine, week one

tl;dr: It’s pretty freaking amazing.

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August 12, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 16 Comments
blog, Family
Spello, Family
May 17, 2020

How to Wait

May 17, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
How to Wait

In which Nicolas, at age 14, writes about his misadventures on our Spello stoop.

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May 17, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
blog, Family
kids, Il Bel Centro, Spello
April 05, 2020

Collecting Violets

April 05, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Collecting Violets

Where nature and beauty and foraging and deliciousness meet.

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April 05, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
Family, blog
recipe, pandemic, drink
May 30, 2019

We have a plan!

May 30, 2019/ Michelle Damiani
We have a plan!

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

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May 30, 2019/ Michelle Damiani/ 4 Comments
Family, Around the World
travel, Global Year
April 23, 2019

Hold the telefono

April 23, 2019/ Michelle Damiani
Hold the telefono

I’m having second thoughts.

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April 23, 2019/ Michelle Damiani/ 10 Comments
blog, Around the World, Family
kids, travel, Global Year, Italy
February 25, 2019

Will the real Santa Lucia please stand?

February 25, 2019/ Michelle Damiani
Will the real Santa Lucia please stand?

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

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February 25, 2019/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
travel, Family, books, Around the World
Il Bel Centro, Santa Lucia, The Road Taken
January 26, 2019

What's bigger than a bucket?

January 26, 2019/ Michelle Damiani
What's bigger than a bucket?

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

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January 26, 2019/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
Around the World, blog, Family
travel, kids
January 08, 2019

Hello, Italian Passports

January 08, 2019/ Michelle Damiani
Hello, Italian Passports

Our big news!

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January 08, 2019/ Michelle Damiani/ 2 Comments
Family, blog
citizenship, Italy
December 06, 2018

Oh, the Places We'll Go

December 06, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
Oh, the Places We'll Go

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

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December 06, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ 20 Comments
blog, travel, Family
Global Year, worldschooling
  • 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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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
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a person in possession of a spoon must be in want of gelato. 🍨
This chocolate-and-passionfruit duet from Genova sang like angels on a sugar high—if you squint, you might just see the halo.
And speaki
I could tell you that we day-tripped to Genova to sink into the city’s layers, its contrasts, it’s pulse of elegance and grit. But you’d know I’m lying. I went for the pesto.
This week’s post about vibe struck a chord—so many of you shared the places you’ve felt it. Sometimes in places others would swan right past. This is true of the the town that stole my heart (more on that later). I can’t imagi

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”