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/
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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.


July 31, 2018

Spello è Sempre lo Stesso

July 31, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
Spello è Sempre lo Stesso

Our 2018 return to Spello, and the changes we found there.

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July 31, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ 14 Comments
blog, travel
Spello, children, language, party, neighbors
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.

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July 23, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
blog
food, drink, life, party
March 12, 2017

How to Host an Unforgettable Party

March 12, 2017/ Michelle Damiani
How to Host an Unforgettable Party

Hold onto your party hats, because I’m about to tell you how to throw the most incredible, fantastical, unforgettable celebration.

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March 12, 2017/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
blog
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.

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Twelve years ago we were preparing to leave Spello. Lunch with friends, a swim and spontaneous dinner with our landlord’s family, one more reveling at the beauty of the life we built in our medieval village.
As promised, I’m back in Aramezzo! And just came up with the most fun, totally Italian clue! I wonder if you’ll be able to spot it when you read “Making a Killing in Aramezzo” in the fall 🇮🇹 Speaking of, for my Book Club wit
So what’s your favorite gelato flavor?
After the Dolomiti, my family returned home and I continued on to Padua with a friend. What a find! Every corner revealed surprises—a sudden piazza filled with life, a painted arcade, a riot of color. I think many people give Padua a pass becau
I’ve shown you dramatic landscapes, fabulous meals, adventurous moments, the contrast between small charm and towering beauty…but maybe the most awe-inspiring aspect of our trip to the Dolomiti was that it happened at all. I am awash wit
You know a destination must be pretty incredible if it takes me this long to get to the food. Eating in the Dolomiti bears little resemblance to the rest of Italy, mostly because of the Austrian influence. It’s a funny thing about a country tha
I made some friends in the Dolomiti.
After a week of botanical drawing and painting in the Pyrenees earlier in the month, Keith and I felt inspired by the alpine flora of the Dolomiti. My daughter Siena as well, but she’s an artist, therefore inspired by a gum wrapper if the light

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”