Etta’s experiences teaching Italian university students as a William J. Fulbright scholar, teaching US university students abroad, and her onsite research in Italian archives feed her love for All Things Italy. Gain a taste by subscribing to her newsletter and blog and following on social media.
How to Hug a Goat & other thoughts of holding tight to traditions September 2023 All Things Italy
Goats near Messina in Sicily, from Sicilianu102, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Dear friends, First, a welcome to the newcomers to All Things Italy. I’m glad to have you on board for this...
Summer Dog Days–Time for Streaming & Reading August 2023 All Things Italy
Dear Friends: Since returning from Italy last month, I’ve hunkered down in Missouri. On a neighborhood walk this week, I saw some local grapes fattening up, which recall the little babies I saw in Tuscany...
Why Group Travel? July 2023 All Things Italy
Our small group at the Santuario della Verna in Umbria. The site is associated with St. Francis of Assisi. Photo Credit: Jenn Simmons Why Group Travel? Reflections on a Recent Pilgrimage Dear Friends: I’ve been...
All Things Italy May 2023
End of Year, End of Career? Tulips outside the New York Public Library's Schwarzman Building May marks the end of the school year for many of us in the US. It’s full of proms, award...
All Things Italy April 2023 What Palermo Promises
Dear Friends: Last month I promised more insights from my time in Sicily—specifically, Palermo and its surroundings. Then, last week I shared on social media a bit from Edith Wharton’s 1928 novel The Children. Specifically,...
All Things Italy March 2023 Is the Jet Lag Worth It?
Sunrise over the sea at Siracusa, Sicily, March 1. Rising at this hour, around 7, and to this beauty, is more feasible for me than arising in the dark. Dear Friends (& new subscribers--welcome!): Earlier...
All Things Italy February 2023
Time Warp and Culture Waves Not far from Rome's colosseum, a skateboard park constructed for a 2022 competition bustles with activity on a winter Sunday afternoon--a striking juxtaposition of sports for the people, present and...
All Things Italy January 2023
Something old, something new . . . The Rotunda under winter morning fog, University of Virginia Dear Friends, “Something old, something new” rings of weddings rather than January resolutions. The more common adage, of course,...
All Things Italy December 2022 19th-C. Asks from Italy Pre-date Giving Tuesday
Dear Friends, This issue of All Things Italy pushes into the past as well as across the Atlantic as I consider end-of-year giving and its traditions. I hope you’ll bear with me and read along....
All Things Italy November 2022 Where is Home?
Rome's cimitero acattolico, or non-catholic cemetery With the fall of leaves, the slant of the sun, holidays like All Saints Day, and other holidays ahead, many begin to think of lost family and of what...
All Things Italy October 2022
Early October light on the details of an eighteenth-century monastery in southern Italy Dear Friends: First, a hearty hello to new subscribers! I hope you enjoy a few interesting tidbits about Italy, past and present. ...
All Things Italy September 2022
Vico Equense, on the Sorrento Peninsula south of Naples, with Mount Vesuvius in the distance Dear friends: Last month I promised info about the Bay of Naples and the Sorrento Peninsula in this issue of...