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
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    • Gabe's Blog
    • Italian Cats and Hidden Madonnas
  • Coaching/
  • About/
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Michelle Damiani

writing with Italy at heart

Il Bel Centro

A Year in the Beautiful Center

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/
April 16, 2018

Il Bel Centro

April 16, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
Il Bel Centro

A synopsis of the beloved tale of family transformation in an Umbrian hilltown. Available in e-book, print, and audiobook.

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April 16, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
books, expat, Umbria
Umbria, expat, Spello, IBC
April 16, 2018

Editorial and Reader Reviews

April 16, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
Editorial and Reader Reviews

See what people say about Il Bel Centro.

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April 16, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
books, Umbria
IBC
April 16, 2018

Book Club Questions

April 16, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
Book Club Questions

Questions to guide your book club reading of Il Bel Centro.

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April 16, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
books, Umbria, expat
book club, IBC, expat, travel
April 13, 2018

IBC around the Web

April 13, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
IBC around the Web

Find places Michelle has discussed IBC and expat life on other sites.

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April 13, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
books, Umbria
expat, IBC
  • 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.

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Twelve years ago we were preparing to leave Spello. Lunch with friends, a swim and spontaneous dinner with our landlord’s family, one more reveling at the beauty of the life we built in our medieval village.
As promised, I’m back in Aramezzo! And just came up with the most fun, totally Italian clue! I wonder if you’ll be able to spot it when you read “Making a Killing in Aramezzo” in the fall 🇮🇹 Speaking of, for my Book Club wit
So what’s your favorite gelato flavor?
After the Dolomiti, my family returned home and I continued on to Padua with a friend. What a find! Every corner revealed surprises—a sudden piazza filled with life, a painted arcade, a riot of color. I think many people give Padua a pass becau
I’ve shown you dramatic landscapes, fabulous meals, adventurous moments, the contrast between small charm and towering beauty…but maybe the most awe-inspiring aspect of our trip to the Dolomiti was that it happened at all. I am awash wit
You know a destination must be pretty incredible if it takes me this long to get to the food. Eating in the Dolomiti bears little resemblance to the rest of Italy, mostly because of the Austrian influence. It’s a funny thing about a country tha
I made some friends in the Dolomiti.
After a week of botanical drawing and painting in the Pyrenees earlier in the month, Keith and I felt inspired by the alpine flora of the Dolomiti. My daughter Siena as well, but she’s an artist, therefore inspired by a gum wrapper if the light

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”