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/

Welcome to a corner of the internet where Italy, storytelling, and savoring life meet. Whether you’re dreaming of your next trip, exploring Italian roots, or just looking for a more delicious way to live, you’ll find inspiration here. Want the newest essays, travel tips, and recipes before anyone else? They always land first in The Grapevine.


October 27, 2024

The 2024 Gift Guide for Italy-Lovers

October 27, 2024/ Michelle Damiani
The 2024 Gift Guide for Italy-Lovers

Your guide for how to give the gift of Italy this season.

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October 27, 2024/ Michelle Damiani/ 4 Comments
Gift Guide, italy
Italy, Gift Guide, gifts, books, Food
November 25, 2020

The Joyful Gift Guide

November 25, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
The Joyful Gift Guide

A Gift Guide with heart—sure to wow the Italy-lovers in your life, as well as supporting artists, makers, and farmers in Italy who have been impacted by the pandemic.

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November 25, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 6 Comments
Gift Guide, pandemic
gifts, Gift Guide, Holiday, Italy, Umbria, art
November 10, 2020

Second Wave

November 10, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Second Wave

Italy’s second wave is upon us. Find out what that means.

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November 10, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 18 Comments
blog, pandemic
pandemic, Italy
August 06, 2020

Flying to Italy in the Pandemic Era

August 06, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Flying to Italy in the Pandemic Era

The road has been brutal. This was the final hurdle.

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August 06, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 25 Comments
blog, Around the World, travel
Italy, travel, pandemic
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
November 14, 2018

Gifts for Italy-Lovers, from Simple to Spectacular

November 14, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
Gifts for Italy-Lovers, from Simple to Spectacular

This year I offer eight highly-curated gift ideas for the Italophile on your list, with variations to create a thoughtful present for any budget. If you have a loved one who has a passion for food, wine, history, art, or more—you’ll find a worthy gift idea here.

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November 14, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ 4 Comments
blog, Gift Guide
Gifts, Italy, travel, Gift Guide
October 11, 2018

Top 10 Reasons to Send Your Teen to Language School

October 11, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
Top 10 Reasons to Send Your Teen to Language School

When Siena returned from her two week stint at language school in Arezzo, I realized that what she got from the experience was far more than an increase in Italian knowledge.

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October 11, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ 15 Comments
blog, travel
Teens, language, travel, Tuscany, Italy
July 23, 2018

My Italian Life

July 23, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
My Italian Life

Seven ways I keep Italy alive while on home soil.

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July 23, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ 2 Comments
blog
Italy, life
September 01, 2016

Let's Talk about the Earthquakes

September 01, 2016/ Michelle Damiani
Let's Talk about the Earthquakes

Getting beyond the rhetoric, and thinking about how to actually help.

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September 01, 2016/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
blog
earthquake, Italy
  • 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.

Get Santa Lucia, a novel set in Italy, FREE by signing up for my monthly newsletter, The Grapevine. Recipes, travel tips, and free wanderlust stories delivered right to your inbox.

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Those olive trees turned this 53-year-old woman into a pigtailed girl after too many days of rain.

I swear, winding through the Pugliese countryside felt like wandering straight into a Scottish fairy tale—dark, mystical trunks heaving over the
Most people who come to Grottaglie in Puglia for the ceramics studios. But when you travel with @max_brunelli of @ciaoandiamo , you are sure to see MORE. Before we walked to the shops, we stepped down the stairs of a local ceramic artist who one day
This year, skip the stress and borrow a page from Italy 🇮🇹 Celebrate on Christmas Eve, savor dinner, soak in the quiet glow, and let the season be more about meaning than perfection. Simple, joyful, beautifully Italian ✨ head to the link in my bio
Matera got under my skin again—five years later and the Sassi still feel like walking through a dream you’re not entirely sure you’re ready for.

This place does that. One minute you’re climbing a sunlit staircase, the next yo
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”,

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”