The emails started arriving about two nanoseconds after the worst human being in the history of the American presidency greeted his bleating cult on that victory stage four years ago. Then came Facebook pleas as he put immigrant children in cages and defended the Alt Right. Now as Covid-19 continues ravishing American lives and racial […]
The world has turned off the neon lights on Italy. The glow has become a fog that clouds our future. Italy’s model strategy in flattening the Covid-19 curve lasted all of about three months. I no longer chortle about the World Health Organization pointing to my adopted country as Example A of fighting the virus. […]
I was a sports writer in the U.S. for 40 years and sometimes football imitates life — like my life now. It’s October, less than three months remain in the year and the world is no better off than it was when the pandemic began. I’m facing 3rd-and-long from near my own end zone. It’s […]
TIVOLI, Italy — Sometimes Rome gets to me, kind of like too much fine wine. Yes, the most beautiful city in the world gets old in more than just age. A Roman outside my window leans on his horn for five minutes until the guy who double parked next to him comes out and moves […]
We American expats overseas don’t get our voices heard very often beyond family and friends back home. Our opinions get filtered by the roar of separating oceans and the relative anonymity of social media. But with the most important presidential election in, at least, my 64 years only 40 days away, our voices should be […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Procida is my favorite island in Italy and the hulking prison overlooking the beautiful isle only adds to the charm — and mystery.
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 […]
FREGENE, Italy — The scene is always the same. We park Marina’s car on a quiet, narrow side street and walk down the short driveway to Il Capanno dei Pescatori, the little beach-side restaurant that sells us lanais chairs for only 7 euros. A young cabana boy plops them down on an empty beach, pulling […]
