Category: Italy

  • The Stunning Dolomites

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    Well, it’s taken a year to post this, but to be fair, we’ve been a bit busy! We chose our last overseas baby-free vacation well, if we don’t say so ourselves! As has been the case for our last three big trips, we had some close friends getting married abroad and decided to tag on…

  • Umbria and Tuscany: New Family and Old Friends

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    We’ve been to Italy three times in the last three years, and it always feels like a bit of a homecoming. Claudia’s aunt Valeria splits her time between Milan and Città di Castello in Umbria, where she and Claudia’s dad were born and lived for many years. My connection is a bit more strained: when my great-grandfather…

  • Finding My Roots in Trani

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    My father’s father passed away a few years before I was born, so I never knew him, nor have I ever met any member of the extended Fabiano family–all the Italian relatives I knew growing up were on my grandmother’s side. I’ve spoken with my aunt several times to gather as much information as I…

  • Unassuming Puglia

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    Our next stop found us crossing from Basilicata into Puglia (the heel of Italy’s boot) and the sleepy and charming Valley of Itria. The most famous thing about this region is probably its trulli, traditional conical dwellings. We picked out a comfortable bed and breakfast where we could stay in one of these unusual buildings…

  • The Rugged Coastline and Historical Interior of Basilicata

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    Ah, Italy. Even with the long list of places we haven’t been, when an old friend announced he was getting married in Italy, it didn’t take us long to decide we’d make the trip. And if we’re going to go all the way over to our favorite country, it wouldn’t just be for a weekend.…

  • A look back at 2013

    2013: The year of the unwritten blog post. I don’t know where the year went, but here we are, in glorious 2014, and I realize, thinking back, that we actually kinda got around this past year. Nothing like 2011-2012, but hey, you can’t always have the (travel) year of your life. I’m not complaining, but…

  • To Rome With Love

    Dreaming of Rome on this lovely evening… Its adorable piazzas Its secret bread rooms (this door was open so we peeked in; it was two doors down from our apartment building, and made our room smell like freshly baked loaves every day!) Ella’s Street Art   Murals everywhere Its street performers … And of course,…

  • Sardinia: Look No Further for Your Next Destination

    I had never spent much time thinking about that “other” Italian island until last year when I was looking for a destination in Italy that would have pretty beaches but other activities to keep my husband (a hiker, a climber, but not a beach bum), my mom (a beach bum and culture enthusiast), and myself…

  • Florence: Art and Tourists, In Equal Numbers

    Even though I’d been to  Florence numerous times myself, it just didn’t feel right to  take Nick to Italy and not stop in there, so off the birthplace of the Renaissance we went. I have mixed feelings on Florence: it’s so full of beautiful art and history, but with that comes  a mind-boggling number of…

  • An Umbrian Homecoming

    All of my relatives except my mother live in either Italy (dad’s side) or Austria (mom’s side), so I only get to spend time chatting with relatives, reminiscing about the past, and eating classic family meals together about once every few years. After not having been to my father’s hometown, Città di Castello, in twenty years,…