Michelle Damiani
  • Buy my books
  • Blog
  • Spello Visiting Umbria Travel in Italy Around the World
  • Books and Movies Food and Drink Gabe's Blog Italian Cats and Hidden Madonnas
  • Coaching
  • About
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/
kenny and friends ilb.jpg
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.


June 22, 2024

Five ways travel journaling makes travel better

June 22, 2024/ Michelle Damiani
Five ways travel journaling makes travel better

Read my take on how travel journaling makes for BETTER travel

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June 22, 2024/ Michelle Damiani/ 2 Comments
travel, liguria
Liguria, journaling, tour
June 24, 2021

This is Cinque Terre

June 24, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
This is Cinque Terre

It took me 30 years to return to Cinque Terre. Here’s what I discovered.

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June 24, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ 2 Comments
travel, liguria, italy, blog
Cinque Terre, Liguria, Travel
  • 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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Are we excited, I think we are! Or at least I am! The last week has been so incredibly packed I haven’t given a thought to the fact that TOMORROW WE’LL BE IN ITALY UNTIL LITERALLY THIS MOMENT. I wonder what our first meal will be? Knowing
One of the great joys of my life is watching my adult kids play together with the same ease and joy as when they were small (in yesterdays post). I’m unsure if it’s because my eldest set the tone and loved making up games or if it’s
When I had kids I thought my traveling days were over and hung out to dry the dream of ever living abroad.  Little did I know how bringing children along for the ride would allow me to slow down, learn flexibility, and find new ways of connecting acr
If you read my post about Australia and thought, “Wee kangaroos hopping through the foggy forest is well and good for you Michelle— as for me, there’s no way I’m sealing myself into a tube with wings for that long” I&rsq
It took me a year to write this post about my trip to Australia. Time I needed to let the whirlwind of thoughts settle into something cohesive. Check out my stories or bio to read how Australia is like visiting another planet—creatures you didn
My book survived its next round of editing! So much fun to gab about Aramezzo while sipping coffee. Kris has loads of opinions about what she wants to happen, but I’m keeping mum 😊 Here’s her blurb: “Come sit at the town bar with a
There’s a common joke that calls Molise “Mol’isnt”. Or another one that refers to the Italian region as “Molise è niente” (Molise is nothing). But I gotta say, I had a smashing time in Termoli a few years ba
Draft of the upcoming installment of my “Murder in an Italian Village” series is now with editors! And it’s about time, too, as the zillions of piles of dirty and clean laundry have blurred into one mega-pile screaming for attention
🍷 If you love wine, you may have heard of Montefalco, the Umbrian city famed for growing Sagrantino grapes. But unless you live in central Virginia, you probably haven’t heard of Montifalco. A name that made me chuckle for years. The owners&rs
I love my “job”.

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”