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.


December 05, 2024

Travel & Writing in Liguria with Ciao Andiamo

December 05, 2024/ Michelle Damiani
Travel & Writing in Liguria with Ciao Andiamo

I had no idea how much teaching writing in Italy would deepen my love of both writing and Italy.

Read More
December 05, 2024/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
liguria, italy, blog, Piedmont, travel
travel, blog, Piemonte, PIedmont
September 20, 2021

Bonjour, France

September 20, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
Bonjour, France

Dear France, remember me?

Read More
September 20, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
blog, travel
France, travel
March 25, 2021

The Case For Slow Travel

March 25, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
The Case For Slow Travel

Seeing more isn’t always seeing more.

Read More
March 25, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ 4 Comments
blog, Around the World, umbria
travel
March 03, 2021

Becoming Heidi

March 03, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
Becoming Heidi

Can what you read as a child change you?

Read More
March 03, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ 5 Comments
blog, Around the World
switzerland, travel, books
February 26, 2021

Eating on Alpine Time

February 26, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
Eating on Alpine Time

What I’ve learned about eating in Switzerland.

Read More
February 26, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ 4 Comments
blog, Around the World, travel
switzerland, travel, Food
February 15, 2021

Sledding in heart of Switzerland

February 15, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
Sledding in heart of Switzerland

Who knew that mountain fun could be had in Switzerland, even for non-skiers?

Read More
February 15, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
travel, blog
switzerland, travel, sledding, winter
February 07, 2021

Out of Italy

February 07, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
Out of Italy

How we skipped over the mountains to Switzerland and what we found there.

Read More
February 07, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ 9 Comments
Around the World, blog
travel, Switzerland, ski, Family
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.

Read More
August 06, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 25 Comments
blog, Around the World, travel
Italy, travel, pandemic
January 08, 2020

Am I French?

January 08, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Am I French?

My quest for French citizenship may be near its end.

Read More
January 08, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 2 Comments
blog, Around the World
citizenship, travel
April 07, 2019

Scrapping college tours for mountain adventures

April 07, 2019/ Michelle Damiani
Scrapping college tours for mountain adventures

Why do we always go INTO the cold for Spring Break?

Read More
April 07, 2019/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
blog, travel, Around the World
Canada, travel, Family, ski
November 16, 2018

Gift Guide for Families that Love Travel

November 16, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
Gift Guide for Families that Love Travel

More and more families are embracing travel as a vital part of their lives. If you are are a traveler looking for gifts for your family or if you have a traveling family on your gift list, this is the definitive gift guide.

Read More
November 16, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
Gift Guide, travel, books
Family, travel, books, gifts
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.

Read More
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.

Read More
October 11, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ 15 Comments
blog, travel
Teens, language, travel, Tuscany, Italy
April 08, 2018

Learning Italian. Again.

April 08, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
Learning Italian. Again.

Ideas for language training on your own.

Read More
April 08, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ 8 Comments
blog
language, 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.

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!

From the top of the Boot, to the tip of its winsome heel, and everywhere in between…what I love about Italy is the layers. Of history, of humanity, of color, of rock. Glorious, isn’t it? Photos 1) Spello 2) Dolomiti 3) Polignano a Mare.
Twenty year old me, backpacking through Europe. When Keith snapped this photo in the alps thirty-plus years ago, we had no idea how prescient it was.
A pandoro is a star-shaped, vanilla powder sugar dusted, cake/bread hybrid traditionally from Verona. It’s buttery and rich and the perfect way to ring in a new year! Have you had your 2026 pandoro?
Bari doesn’t hide everyday life indoors.
Curtains instead of doors means the intimacy of daily routines spills onto the street. You hear the chime of forks on plates, a TV on in the background. Laundry hangs on a rack in the road. The whine of
Okay I telegraphed this shot earlier in my “best of 2025” but don’t you think this photo of an octopus fisherman that I took in Polignano al Mare deserves its own frame?
I used to think good wine came with a hefty price tag.
Puglia laughed softly and poured me something dreamy.
Turns out the wines no one’s chasing are often the most generous—and the most drinkable. I wrote about my Puglia wine epiphany in
“WAIT. Rewind that.” ✨ 2025, you were a year.
1. A weekend in Grand Cayman with roving chickens and a kayaking trip to a bioluminescent bay
2. Getting Italian citizenship—an endurance sport with a passport-shaped prize
3. A trip to
It’s hard to regret getting older when it means an epic week of celebrating! A family celebration in San Francisco with my divine niece (and goddaughter, and December birthday buddy), a birthday walk in the woods with my daughter followed by pa

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”