Michelle Damiani
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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/
aperol spritz, spello, umbria, italy
Michelle Damiani

writing with Italy at heart

Food and Drink

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/

Explore the best of Italian food and drink—classic recipes, regional specialties, and culinary travel stories from across Italy. Get even more tips and inspiration delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for the Grapevine.


August 11, 2020

Sausage Sugo

August 11, 2020/ Michelle Damiani
Sausage Sugo

Welcome to Italy! It’s time to feast.

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August 11, 2020/ Michelle Damiani/ 2 Comments
food, recipe
recipe, food, Spello
November 28, 2018

Four Secrets to an Extraordinary Ragù

November 28, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
Four Secrets to an Extraordinary Ragù

Here’s what I learned from living in Italy about how to make a profoundly good meat sauce.

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November 28, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ 8 Comments
recipe, food
Spello, Umbria, recipe
November 18, 2018

Vin Brulé (Italian mulled wine)

November 18, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
Vin Brulé (Italian mulled wine)

Vin brulé is Italy’s answer to mulled wine. Warm, and flush with intriguing spices it’ll be your new cold-weather go-to.

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November 18, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
food, recipe
drink, Spello, celebration
July 24, 2018

Focaccia Pizza

July 24, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
Focaccia Pizza

It’s easy to make a soft, delicious focaccia pizza. Let me tell you how, and let you get creative with toppings!

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July 24, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
food, recipe
Spello, food, party
January 07, 2016

Ditching Your Pasta Machine

January 07, 2016/ Michelle Damiani
Ditching Your Pasta Machine

Making pasta doesn't require a fancy metal machine. All you need is a wood surface and a wooden rolling pin for the best pasta you've ever had. Here's how.

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January 07, 2016/ Michelle Damiani/ 2 Comments
food, recipe
pasta, food, recipe, Spello
  • 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.

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🙋🏻‍♀️Raise your hand if Angelo is your favorite “character” in my memoir of living in Italy. PS, did any of you note the dedication in my last book? I can’t wait to bring it to him in October ❤️ PS check out the video in my st
The question I get most from readers—more than How did your family move to Italy? or How did you find Spello?—is this: How do you write a book in a month?

As Grapevine readers know (sign up in my link in bio so you don’t miss a tri
Il Bel Centro readers… when you first met Gabe he looked like this. Today he looks like this. NINETEEN YEARS OLD. Which I think makes him a man? No way. He’s always our Gabey Babey.
I am a third of the way through my latest manuscript and feel like I need to pick my head up and fill you in. This cozy mystery rotates on a truffle axis, which is a blast to write, but would not have been possible without the education gleaned from
NOT ONLY will October’s Book Club with a View go to Umbria, but also Florence (tour is full, but let me know if you want a spot on the waiting list!). I wonder if you can guess what’s on our reading list 🤗 PS, you’re gonna see this
So excited to return to Umbria in October, this time with our Book Club with a View! The trip filled soon after I announced it in January’s Grapevine (check my link in bio to not miss a trick), but let me know if you want more information or a
This snowstorm is the perfect time to begin my dozenth book. What, dozenth isn’t a word? As someone on her dozenth book, I feel like we can also use it as a verb “I am dozening” “I’ve dozened.” I stand by it! Dozen
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.

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”