There's a farm field along the canal, across from the Zibido Cemetery, that has piled up a rank-smelling mound of...
People Articles
Twins Arrive, Fans Riot
Boy! My two cousins come into town and a riot ensues! Connie and Gerry arrived yesterday morning, crashed out for a...
Antiques Along the Grand Canal
On the last Sunday of the month, one can browse Antiques and Flea-Market-Finds for as far as the eye can see (2...
Luigi Gathers Wood
Running parallel to the Naviglio Pavese canal, between the bike path and the highway, is a drainage ditch overgrown by...
Portraits of a Regional Election
They put the temporary, scaffold-and-tin poster walls back up in my neighborhood just in time to feature advertising...
Quite a Git-Up
As I was returning home from Firenze and taking the metro from the train station, this couple was practically "doing...
Eat, That You Will Feel Well
Would you let 30 random strangers eat off your plate? Would you, in turn, eat off the plates of those 30 strangers?...
I Met Mary!
Last June, just a few days after I had arrived here in Milano, I went to the Cimitero Monumentale - the Monumental...
Out with The Girls
It's been great fun to get to know the group of women from the schools here. Now and then, when a few of us are...
A Ligurian Lunch
Dinner the night before was followed by a long lunch the next day. Renata and Angelo, who live in a town within...
Dinner with Sanremo Friends
It's a natural for friends to gather for food and conversation. This is worldwide, but I find that the Italians do it...
Retro Italia
One thing about being invited into people's homes is the chance to have them bring things out to show me, such as old...
I Met a Woman!
Nicoletta rode over the overpass at the same time I did and then began to move ahead. I called out, "Excuse me. I have...
Five Countries. One Table.
We got together to celebrate Anaïs's 24th birthday with traditional Milanese apperitivi at an "art bar" in town....
Three Countries. One Day.
The "pinch me" part. Along our drive I had been seeing "travel-guide Italy", scenic, seaside towns, cliffside old...
Pinch Me
There's no way I could have CONCEIVED of this weekend! Talk about "living on a movie set!" It was all beyond real, not...
Bluone: Open Hearts in Bologna
Years ago, a girlfriend of mine from Seattle traveled and stayed with Marcello and Raffaella Tori of BluOne Cooking...
Bologna Arte Fiera
Scatter sculpture, paintings and installations in amongst mediaeval buildings and you've got the makings of a visually...
Polenta and Porcini
From my journal entry, 23 January. Bergamo. Bergamo is beautiful and reminds me of San Gimignano in Tuscany. I'm on in...
History Buff on Wheels
"I was born in 1945 during the war years and I grew up with family members all around me talking about politics and...