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/
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Michelle Damiani

writing with Italy at heart

Visiting Umbria

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/

Step into Umbria, the Italian region that reshaped my family and still shapes my writing. These reflections come from years of living among its olive groves, cobblestones, and fiercely kind neighbors—stories of belonging, blunders, beauty, and how a place can change you if you let it. For more tales from life in Umbria, join The Grapevine, where new chapters of this ongoing love story always land first.


June 22, 2021

Romanelli Winery

June 22, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
Romanelli Winery

What I discovered at Romanelli winery in Umbria (hint: not just Sagrantino!)

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June 22, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
umbria, travel, italy
winery, wine, umbria, travel
June 17, 2021

Scacciadiavoli Winery

June 17, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
Scacciadiavoli Winery

A primer on Sagrantino and why you should visit a winery on your next visit to Umbria.

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June 17, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
umbria, travel, italy, blog
wine, winery, umbria, travel
March 23, 2021

How the history of glassmaking in an Umbrian village meets a personal dream

March 23, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
How the history of glassmaking in an Umbrian village meets a personal dream

In this installment of my “Local Guide Series”, Colleen introduces us to Piegaro and the delights that await visitors to her village.

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March 23, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
umbria, travel
Local Guide, umbria, travel
April 14, 2018

Rasiglia, a hidden water-wonderland in Umbria

April 14, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
Rasiglia, a hidden water-wonderland in Umbria

Rasiglia is an ancient village tucked away in the hills beyond Foligno. Thanks to its rich supply of water, it was once a mill town famous for its textiles. Rushing water and peaceful canals make Rasiglia seem like it is out of a dream.

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April 14, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ 2 Comments
travel, umbria
umbria, Rasiglia, travel, video
April 12, 2018

Foligno, Umbria

April 12, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
Foligno, Umbria

An untouristed small city.

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April 12, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
travel, umbria
travel, umbria
March 28, 2018

Bevagna, Umbria

March 28, 2018/ Michelle Damiani
Bevagna, Umbria

A medieval town, not on a hill, renowned for its festival of medieval life.

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March 28, 2018/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
travel, umbria, dining
travel, restaurant, umbria
  • 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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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.
Twenty year old me, backpacking through Europe. When Keith snapped this photo in the alps thirty-plus years ago, we had no idea how prescient it was.
A pandoro is a star-shaped, vanilla powder sugar dusted, cake/bread hybrid traditionally from Verona. It’s buttery and rich and the perfect way to ring in a new year! Have you had your 2026 pandoro?

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”