Europe

September 16, 2020

European soccer season begins with frustration for me and AS Roma fans

AS Roma’s season begins Saturday, and I’m approaching it with the resignation usually reserved for my tax return or tomato sauce. I’m always disappointed. Enduring Roma’s season is worse than an Internet date. At least with an Internet date you have hope. With AS Roma, hope is just something that gets broken quickly, like a […]

September 8, 2020

My 10 favorite islands in the world: Your dream list for the post-pandemic 2021

Let’s face it, folks. It’s time to punt 2020. You’re not going anywhere. Americans have been banned everywhere from Poland to Pluto and even here in Italy our curve has spiked a bit after a flatlining summer brimming with optimism. It’s time to plan for 2021. Well, at least dream. That’s all many of us […]

September 1, 2020

Covid-19 making a slight comeback in Italy and officials are clamping down again

Rome police are fining an average of 10 people a night over Covid-19 violations. They aren’t starting fistfights over masks. They’re not starting riots in front of government buildings. They’re merely not wearing a mask in public at night. Five hundred guests at a resort in Sardinia are in quarantine after a staff member tested […]

August 25, 2020

Procida: A picture blog of my favorite isle in Italy by photographer Marina Pascucci

PROCIDA, Italy — In light of the political conventions happening in my native U.S., my blog this week will also feature a guest speaker. However, this guest speaks with her camera, not her mouth. Marina Pascucci, my uber photographer for this blog the last five years, is taking center stage. Last week we teamed up […]

August 19, 2020

Procida’s prison in paradise: after 150 years of jailing mafiosi, fascists, and worse

Procida is my favorite island in Italy and the hulking prison overlooking the beautiful isle only adds to the charm — and mystery.

August 12, 2020

As Roma gets a new owner, and a new future, this fan remains skeptical

Life as a soccer fan in Italy has been practically back to normal for nearly two months. It’s odd watching games in empty stadiums but from a pub you rarely see the stands as a TV graphic. Besides, soccer announcers talk so much you can’t hear the players’ ubiquitous cursing over the TV anyway. Juventus […]

July 21, 2020

Raphael exhibition a great tour of a grand artist as Italy opens back up to the world

Three things you probably didn’t know about Raffaello Sanzio, known outside Italy as Raphael and part of the trifecta of Italian Renaissance painters: He scored his first commission at 17 and one of his first was painting an altarpiece for a family funeral chapel that housed the bones of some of the 130 men slaughtered […]

July 15, 2020

Europe

European soccer season begins with frustration for me and AS Roma fans

My 10 favorite islands in the world: Your dream list for the post-pandemic 2021

Covid-19 making a slight comeback in Italy and officials are clamping down again

Procida: A picture blog of my favorite isle in Italy by photographer Marina Pascucci

Procida’s prison in paradise: after 150 years of jailing mafiosi, fascists, and worse

As Roma gets a new owner, and a new future, this fan remains skeptical

Raphael exhibition a great tour of a grand artist as Italy opens back up to the world

Traveling in Italy: Trip to Puglia reminds me of why I live here but caution flags rise

Italy restaurants: My 5 favorites after eight years living in this gastronomic paradise

Stay away, Americans! EU says you and your coronavirus are not wanted here in Europe

What’s your idea of romance and Rome?

Black Lives Matter movement hits Rome and African Americans here join the chorus