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Anniversary in Venice: A beautiful city in turmoil

Lido is one place to escape the crowds in Venice. Photo by Marina Pascucci

VENICE, Italy — It’s a sunny May morning, and Marina and I are sitting in the lap of opulence. Marina isn’t a high-maintenance traveler. She doesn’t need five stars on a hotel’s front door or china with her airplane food. She likes a breakfast buffet. That’s about it. But in Venice, where we are celebrating our three-year anniversary, we find ourselves in a 16th century […]

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Testaccio: An ode to a true Roman neighborhood

Reading my Corriere dello Sport in my neighborhood was a daily ritual over the last four years. Photo by Marina Pascucci

How do you say goodbye to a neighborhood that feels more home than your hometown? How do you thank people who embraced you for four years without speaking your language? How do you explain sorrow over moving, when you’re only moving two kilometers? Rome does that to you. Testaccio does that to you. It’s a neighborhood few tourists know and not many Romans know well, […]

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Lisbon: Sing a song to Portugal’s oft-embattled capital

The view from Largo das Portas do Sol in Alfama. Photo by Marina Pascucci

Arms and the Heroes, who from Lisbon’s shore, Through Seas where sail was never spread before, Beyond where Ceylon lifts her spicy breast, And waves her woods above the watery waste, With prowess more than human forced their way To the fair kingdoms of the rising day: What wars they waged, what seas, what dangers passed, What glorious empire crowned their toils at last! — […]

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Gelato wars: My five favorite gelaterias in Rome

Italy has 19,000 gelaterias. Here are my five favorite in Rome. Photo by Marina Pascucci

It was my birthday Thursday and what’s a great way to spend your birthday week in Rome? How about eating gelato every day? You can do that here. Sure, you can do that in Nebraska, too, but soon you’ll look like most of the people around you. Here in Rome gelato is considered one of the four major food groups, along with wine, pasta and […]

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Buying a home in Italy: One American expat’s struggles

Chandi Wyant in Tuscany.

Like me, Chandi Wyant is an American expat, travel writer, author and one-time Colorado transplant. Her book, “Return to Glow,” about her 40-day pilgrimmage walk in Italy, has become a big hit. She moved to Tuscany for a second time last spring and is in the process of buying a home. It’s a long process and sometimes painful. In between moving possessions to another temporary home during a break in her search, she joined me for an online Q&A about her experiences of buying a home in Italy.
(To read more, click here.)

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How to pack for a holiday in Rome: Light, in a backpack but don’t forget the sport coat

For Rome, you can pack light and still be stylish. Photo by Marina Pascucci

In the capital of the most stylish country in the world, you don’t want to look like you walked out of an Iowa cornfield. Yet the 2,000-year-old cobblestones covering most of the town center can turn your feet into Norcia sausage before you climb one Spanish Step. I’m here to help. After living here 5 ½ years and visiting many other times, I know what to pack and what not to pack for any time of year. For simplicity sake, I’ll stick here to the ideal months of spring and fall. Forget summer. If you’re crazy enough to visit Rome in July and August you won’t listen to this advice anyway. So keep this list on your laptop while you’re packing your backpack, which brings us to my first item.
(To read more, click here.)

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Caravaggio: Your city guide to see all works of Rome’s greatest Baroque painter and famous all-around rebel

Caravaggio came to Rome in 1592. Today nine sites hold more than two dozen of his paintings. Port Mobility photo

Rome has nine places to view more than two dozen of Caravaggio’s works. If you idolize him as I do, are just a casual admirer or can’t even pronounce his name (car-a-VAGG-io), use this blog as a guide to explore. Some works are free. Some require a reservation. All can be seen by walking. When you’re finished you’ll see most of the important sites in the most important art city in the world. Even if you put strolling art museums on a level with shopping, give Caravaggio a try. He may bring out the inner artist in you.
(To read more click here.)

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Italian election: An entire nation scratches its head as threat of fascism looms and economy teeters

Supporters of Matteo Salvini, leader of The League, Italy's ultra-right party, campaign ahead of Sunday's election. Photo by The Nation

If a cartoonist drew a group picture of the candidates, it’d resemble a food fight at Mickey Mouse’s clubhouse. Italy has more parties than Florida State’s Theta Chi house, and not one candidate Sunday will ever be mentioned in the same sentence as Caesar Augustus.
They include an 81-year-old three-time prime minister convicted for tax fraud with a runaway libido, a 31-year-old college dropout backed by a former stand-up comic, a neo-fascist who has declared war on immigrants, the previous prime minister who resigned just 15 months ago, a hot (Hey, it’s Italy) former female journalist just to the left of Eva Braun, two convicted of corruption and the crooner who sings “O Sole Mio” to tourists in Trastevere.
(To read more, click here.)

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My list of the most romantic dates in Rome: A city where every day is Valentine’s Day

Marina and I on Terrazza Baromini above Piazza Navona.

There is no better way to experience Valentine’s Day than in a romantic city without Valentine’s Day prices. Come to Rome — on any day but today. I’ve lived here as a bachelor for more than four years and have had an Italian girlfriend for nearly three. I’ve learned a bit about romance in Rome. And I’m here to help. So below is a list of some of my favorite romantic dates in the city.They won’t break your bank. Some take a little planning. Others take a little effort. But they all will leave you with a pitter patter in your heart and your lover in your hand.
(To read more, click here.)

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Handy tips on preventing illness overseas: Or why never to eat animal parts with hair

Grinning and bearing it while attending a game with the flu in 38-degree Frankfurt.

When you are sick overseas, even Shangri-la seems like the third circle of Hades. That’s where I just spent five days, curled up in a feverish pit in Hell where I barely had enough energy to crawl to a grocery store for food rendered as tasteless as last month’s Der Spiegel. This marks my 40th year of international travel. I’ve been extraordinarily lucky. I’ve had very few illnesses overseas, but a lot of it isn’t luck.
(To read more, click here.)

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