Michelle Damiani
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Michelle Damiani
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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/
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Chronicling our return home from a year in Umbria and the preparations for our around-the-world journey.


February 11, 2021

Surprised by Switzerland

February 11, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
Surprised by Switzerland

I’m glad I didn’t prepare for this.

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February 11, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
blog, travel
switzerland
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.

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February 07, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ 9 Comments
Around the World, blog
travel, Switzerland, ski, Family
January 29, 2021

Of bread and sugar

January 29, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
Of bread and sugar

The only one of my posts that should come with a warning label: Don’t attempt to read while hungry

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January 29, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ 8 Comments
spello, umbria
Food, spello
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 18, 2020

Preserving the Past in a Plate

November 18, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Preserving the Past in a Plate

A trip to Deruta is a gift that keeps on giving…

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November 18, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 2 Comments
blog, travel
Umbria
November 13, 2020

Among the Olive Trees

November 13, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Among the Olive Trees

Let me take you on an olive harvest…

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November 13, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 6 Comments
blog, travel
Family, Umbria, celebrate
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
October 26, 2020

Modernization and Mass Production are not the same thing

October 26, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Modernization and Mass Production are not the same thing

How I gained a whole new appreciation for olive oil at Frantoio Filippi.

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October 26, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 5 Comments
travel, blog
Umbria, food
September 16, 2020

Wild Asparagus and Me

September 16, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Wild Asparagus and Me

How a single stalk of wild asparagus can be ever so much more than that.

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September 16, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 2 Comments
blog
Spello, food, neighbors
September 14, 2020

Village-Schooled

September 14, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Village-Schooled

Our kids are getting an education the likes of which we dared not dream.

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September 14, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 12 Comments
Family, blog
language, art, kids, Spello
September 08, 2020

An Italian village, sucker-punched by COVID

September 08, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
An Italian village, sucker-punched by COVID

The pandemic hit Spello in ways I hadn’t imagined.

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September 08, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 30 Comments
blog
pandemic, Spello, neighbors, Family
September 06, 2020

What can I say?

September 06, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
What can I say?

No, really. I find myself with writer’s block about how to tell you about our release from quarantine.

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September 06, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 2 Comments
blog, Family
Spello
August 19, 2020

Italian Quarantine, week 2

August 19, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Italian Quarantine, week 2

9 lessons I learned in Italian “quarantena”

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August 19, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 8 Comments
Family, blog, Around the World
Spello, quarantine, Family, Il Bel Centro
August 12, 2020

Italian Quarantine, week one

August 12, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Italian Quarantine, week one

tl;dr: It’s pretty freaking amazing.

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August 12, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 16 Comments
blog, Family
Spello, 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.

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August 06, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 25 Comments
blog, Around the World, travel
Italy, travel, pandemic
May 17, 2020

How to Wait

May 17, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
How to Wait

In which Nicolas, at age 14, writes about his misadventures on our Spello stoop.

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May 17, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
blog, Family
kids, Il Bel Centro, Spello
April 05, 2020

Coping with Quarantine

April 05, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Coping with Quarantine

You’ve heard the typical advice. Now read eight new ways to keep steady in an unsteady world.

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April 05, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 2 Comments
blog
pandemic, coaching
April 05, 2020

Collecting Violets

April 05, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Collecting Violets

Where nature and beauty and foraging and deliciousness meet.

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April 05, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
Family, blog
recipe, pandemic, drink
January 19, 2020

The Refusal

January 19, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
The Refusal

What happened at the French Embassy. Spoiler alert. There were no pastries offered or eaten.

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January 19, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 8 Comments
blog, Around the World
citizenship
January 08, 2020

Am I French?

January 08, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Am I French?

My quest for French citizenship may be near its end.

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January 08, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 2 Comments
blog, Around the World
citizenship, travel
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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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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”,
Landing in Naples after drifting dreamily through Piedmont was like stepping off a cloud and directly into a drum circle. It’s all Italy, yes—but Italy is twenty regions stitched together only in 1861, so expecting them to feel the same i
Last year in Spello, I watched a hunter-looking guy sprint past my restaurant table, a basket of massive porcini in hand. Before I could even mourn not snapping a photo, Mirko—the owner—appeared, proudly presenting his haul.
Cut to last m
Fossano… another delightful town in Italy’s Piedmont region!
Living in Umbria for two years, I got up close and personal with Umbrian wines. I adore them. But thanks to Brenda and Graziano of @vinosofiaspello , I also got a crash course in Italy’s astonishingly varied wine terrain. Years ago, over dinner

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”