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/

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.

April 05, 2020

Collecting Violets

April 05, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Collecting Violets

Where nature and beauty and foraging and deliciousness meet.

Read More
April 05, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
Family, blog
recipe, pandemic, drink
July 23, 2018

How to Host a Spritz Party

July 23, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
How to Host a Spritz Party

Aperol is an Italian apéritif that tastes lightly of citrus with bitter undertones. Learn how to turn Aperol into a cocktail that will elevate your afternoons, and how to turn that cocktail into a party.

Read More
July 23, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
blog
food, drink, life, party
  • 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.

get book!

Follow me on Instagram!

Cat cafés: come for the cats, stay for…everything else. The good ones feel like a living room you wish you had—soft corners to curl up in, a drink in hand (ours had free tea and coffee), WiFi if you need it, stacks of manga if yo
As a citizen of two countries, I take my civic duty seriously x two. Voted early in Virginia (VA voter? You can vote early until April 18th! I did it well before the deadline because I thrill to have my voice counted) and am sending off my Italian ba
The thing no one tells you about Japan is that it is an island so overflowing with marvels, it can be overwhelming to plan a trip there. My advice? Lean into YOU. What YOU care about. Let that be your guide. For me, it’s always food, so food
Yesterday’s post about the trendiest coffee of my life got me thinking about memorable cups of coffee. I offer for your consideration: 1. Cappuccino in Turin, where a cup brought atmosphere to a foggy morning 2. A “Snow Monkey Marshmallow
And then there was Tokyo. Being the caffeine-addled family that we are, first order of business was seeking out a trendy coffee establishment. Hence, Glitch. A place that takes its coffee so seriously, you pick a single-origin bean from the canisters
While I was soaking in hot springs and reflecting in temples and wandering the countryside, my husband, daughter, son and son’s girlfriend were skiing! Japan, you are full of wonders.
Much like yesterday’s snow monkeys I am ALL IN on Japanese hot springs! We stayed three days in Shibu Onsen where overnighting in a hotel gets you a key that opens 9 different onsen. Fun, and especially fun to traipse all over town in a yukata
Imagine walking through a frost-laced forest, turning at every rustle in the branches…was that one? Yes, you can spot the furry head resting against a tree down the hill. Then you see another. And another. A mamma carrying her baby, friends cu
An unexpected beauty of Japan? All these tucked away moments to pause and reflect and connect with something deeper.

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”