Every summer a group of Michigan State journalism students comes to Rome and I talk to them about my life as a sportswriter in the U.S. and my transformation to a travel writer in Rome. This year they asked some remarkably insightful questions. Here are some of them and how I answered them.
Kevin McAllister doesn’t just go places. He walks there. And he experiences every inch of culture along the way. The 66-year-old retired software salesman just finished walking 900 miles over 70 days, the vast majority over the historic Via Francigena pilgrimmage route that stretches from Canterbury, England, to Southern Italy. I met him during my stay in Cinque Terre last month and told him to look me up when he finished his pilgrimage in Rome. He did. We sat for drinks and he told me his story.
Normally, the phrase Italy’s government collapses wouldn’t be cause for alarm here in Italy. After all, we’ve gone through 14 prime ministers and 19 governments in the last 30 years. But now what’s waiting in the wings, what is favored to win the snap Sept. 25 elections, is a right-wing coalition led by the neo-fascist Brothers of Italy.
Monti has been a prominent Roman neighborhood since Ancient Rome but has changed its face over the centuries. Once Rome’s most teeming ghetto, it became a place to be for the rich in the Middle Ages and later the hippest place in Rome and now has gentrified into just another touristy neighborhood. It was my goal to live there. Not anymore.
Cinque Terre is a UNESCO Heritage Site consisting of five pastel-colored villages on the Ligurian Sea. It gets 2.5 million visitors a year and when we visited over the weekend it felt like they were all there with us. The village of Vernazza was packed. As Italy recovers from Covid, tourism is back in full and some places are laying down limitations. Cinque Terre is not.
Elba sits an hour’s ferry ride off the coast of Tuscany and for half a century has been one of the most popular summer destinations for Italians and Europeans alike. But you’d better bring a car. Marina and I were two of the few who didn’t and learned the hard way that island transportation isn’t reliable. Still, it was worth it to have a beautiful hotel with a pool in the countryside and we still made it to two relaxing beaches. We did not, however, beat the crowds. Elba is filling up fast.
Every country has a food culture and at the top of Malta’s food chain is rabbit. It’s tradition to eat it on Sundays and the country even has 14 restaurants specializing in rabbit and two cities specializing in rabbit restaurants. During my five-day trip to Malta two weeks ago, I went to one of them. Yes, rabbits are cute. But they’re also tasty. While 550,000 rabbits are killed in Malta every year, agencies and government ministries are out to help the rabbits’ benefits as much as possible. My last of a three-part blog on Malta.
Malta has been the site of 150 films over the years, including 20 since the pandemic began two years ago. The island nation south of Sicily is versatile enough to look like everything from Israel during the Middle Ages to medieval France to modern Rome. I took an all-day tour of many of the sites and the Malta Film Studios where they’ve shot countless water scenes.
I had a hard time convincing Italians that Malta is a worthy destination. Even my girlfriend, Marina, was hesitant. I took the leap anyway last week and while I did see their criticisms of overgrowth and “a concrete jungle,” I saw so much else to offer. Beautiful sea with built-in individual stone pools. Best weather of my life. Fascinating history. Gorgeous architecture. The kind Maltese don’t like what much of it has become but I’ll be back. I’m developing a taste for rabbit.
I’m often reminded of why I live in Italy and last week’s Texas massacre gave me another reason. An 18-year-old walked into a gunstore and legally bought two semi-automatic weapons to blow away 19 children, aged 9-11, and two adults. You can’t buy semi-automatic weapons in Italy. You need certificates from doctors in Italy. You need safety courses in Italy. Five years after the Las Vegas massacre moved me to compare the gun laws in my two countries, I’m forced to do an update.
Since trading my sports writer’s hat for a fan’s banner upon retiring to Rome eight years ago, I’ve waited patiently for my adopted team, A.S. Roma, to achieve greatness. Wednesday night it can earn its first official European trophy in its 95-year history. I attended last week’s media day in preparation for Wednesday Conference League final in Tirana, Albana, against Feyenoord of Holland.
The world is traveling again and during these last two years Covid has kept us mostly tied at home I’ve reflected a lot about my travels. Over 44 years of traveling the globe, I’ve learned a few things, from how to budget to how to be alone. Here are the 10 lessons I learned from traveling the world. Hopefully, when you set out again you’ll learn the same.
