March 06, 2022

Medieval People Were Wacky

March 06, 2022/ Gabe Damiani

Medieval People Were Wacky

Gabe’s final essay, focused on his admiration of medieval people’s customs and culture.

September 03, 2021

Learning a Language

September 03, 2021/ Gabe Damiani

Learning a Language

Gabe’s report of how he learned Italian. Twice.

April 12, 2021

A door in Venice

April 12, 2021/ Gabe Damiani

A door in Venice

What Gabe found behind an unassuming door in Venice.

April 12, 2021

To Subasio!

April 12, 2021/ Gabe Damiani

Gabe writes about what he learned on Monte Subasio.

January 21, 2021

The Rising Tides of Venice

January 21, 2021/ Gabe Damiani

The Rising Tides of Venice

Gabe’s worldschooling project during our week in Venice.

December 02, 2020

Why do olive trees live so long?

December 02, 2020/ Gabe Damiani

Why do olive trees live so long?

Gabe’s schooling continues as he answers the question: “Why do olive trees live so long?”

November 09, 2020

Letters from Etruria

November 09, 2020/ Gabe Damiani

Letters from Etruria

Gabe’s imagining of a correspondence between Etruscan and Greek potters.

July 02, 2019

Lithuani-what?

July 02, 2019/ Gabe Damiani

Gabe writes about discovering a love for Lithuania.

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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Funny that as many posts I see about Japan, few mention the jaw-dropping, staggering beauty of the countryside. If you want views for days, Nagano prefecture is worth considering. Plus, a guy from New Zealand I ran into at the convenience store told

Arrived at Shibu Onsen, a hot springs town where you can buy eggs cooked in the hot springs water. More importantly, a stay gets you a key to the nine public bathhouses. You can buy a towel for a few dollars that you stamp at each of the nine bathhou

Scenes from a morning in Nagano 🇯🇵

I’ve already started eating all the things 😂🇯🇵😂 Picked up this bento box at the train station for less than $7 USD and happily ate on the train to… well, you’ll see tomorrow!

Photos from our 2016 family trip to Asia. I have a feeling next week’s photos will be quite different. Check stories for a link to my post about how to survive a long haul flight. I know I’ll be revisiting those tips!

When I moved to Italy, I had to relearn the calendar — not by months, but by vegetables.
Somewhere along the way I’d convinced myself artichokes were a summer thing (why? who knows). And then February arrived and the markets exploded with

A year ago we toasted Valentine’s Day with this view, our feet plunged in warm sand after swimming around enormous starfish and before kayaking to a bioluminescent bay under a canopy of stars. This year we’re surrounded by the dregs of la

🙋🏻&zwj;♀️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

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”