Here’ll you find insights into Umbria, culled from living in Spello for two years, as detailed in my memoir Il Bel Centro: A Year in the Beautiful Center, which you can download right here or at your preferred marketplace here or you can find it on Amazon here. Buy it now to read about how our family of five abandoned life in the United States to clink glasses with local communists and join the village all-nighter decorating cobblestone streets with flower petals. You’ll also read about embarrassing language minefields and a serious summons to the mayor’s office. Ultimately, though, Il Bel Centro is the story of how travel can change you if you let it.

November 17, 2020

Deruta's Past and Present

November 17, 2020/ Michelle Damiani

As part of our Local Guide Series, Joan and Giovanni share how their family history is inextricably linked with the history of artistic ceramics in Deruta. You can read the story of how we met Joan and Giovanni, and about our visit to Deruta and Antica Fornace here.

Have you been to Deruta? Isn’t it a marvelous place to find a unique and irreplaceable souvenir of a visit to Umbria? Use the buttons below to share this post!

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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My newest hobby? Thumbing through beloved “wanderlust reads”, curating a curriculum for my upcoming tour of the Italian Riviera, where we learn the art of how to “travel write to travel RIGHT.”

I’m collecting delicious

As my youngest rounds home plate on his junior year, I can’t help but remember how when he attended public school in Spello at age 5, he’d entertain himself by speaking Italian with a British accent to see if anyone noticed.

Capturing the essence of Italian Liberation in every note 🇮🇹🎶 April 25th holds a special resonance, as it’s Italian Liberation Day, commemorating the end of a dark chapter in our shared history. As “Bella Ciao” fills the air, I&r

Do you want to learn Italian?

Maybe you’ve tried different kinds of classes or strategies…I know I failed out of a bunch of fool-proof methods, so when I found out that in order to apply for Italian citizenship I would have to pass the

**Festival participant, speaking about “Il Bel Centro: A Year in the Beautiful Center”**

Featured speaker on panel discussing Romance for “Santa Lucia”

Visiting Umbria

Michelle Damiani

Rumors. Romance. And more than a little espresso.

Follow me on Instagram!