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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What nobody tells you about Japan is even when you’re too early for cherry blossom, there are plum blossoms. Plus, Japanese gardens are glorious with no blossoms at all.

As a person who grooves on food and connection, the Omicho Market Tour and Cooking Class offered by In Kanazawa House was one of the most satisfying and delicious experiences I had in Japan. Our guides Naoko and Kazuko (tagged in stories) introduced

Remember yesterday when I mentioned the Japanese alpine town that taught me how fall in love with sake? That town is Takayama. Known for sake, Edo era architecture, and a kind of beef so excellent that my husband, after an entire meal of steak and su

I wasn’t sure how I’d take to Japanese sake culture considering I, you know, wasn’t a fan of sake.

For those who need a refresher, sake is one of the many ingenious ways the Japanese make use of their most abundant crop—rice.

The most important word in a foreign language…

“Thank you” is polite. “Hello” is excellent.

But to my mind, if you want to connect, learn the word for delicious.

In Japanese, it’s oishi.

When I said “o

Cat cafés: come for the cats, stay for…everything else.

The good ones feel like a living room you wish you had—soft corners to curl up in, a drink in hand (ours had free tea and coffee), WiFi if you need it, stacks of manga if yo

As a citizen of two countries, I take my civic duty seriously x two. Voted early in Virginia (VA voter? You can vote early until April 18th! I did it well before the deadline because I thrill to have my voice counted) and am sending off my Italian ba

The thing no one tells you about Japan is that it is an island so overflowing with marvels, it can be overwhelming to plan a trip there.

My advice? Lean into YOU. What YOU care about. Let that be your guide.

For me, it’s always food, so food

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”