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.
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...
All Things Italy July/August 2022 Fa Caldo . . . Fa Caldissimo!
Italian Alps near Courmayer, just south of Monte Bianco Dear friends: I’m writing this letter from home, back in the USA, sitting at a desk surrounded by air-conditioning and looking out on a scorched Midwestern...
All Things Italy June 2022 Words from a Solo Traveler
Hello, friends, and greetings from Genova Nervi. It’s been a month that I’ve been away from home and on the ground in Italy. Approaching four weeks away, I felt certain cravings creeping up, erupting from...
All Things Italy May 2022 May’s End Means a Return to Rome
Ponte Sisto over the Tiber Hello, friends, and greetings from Rome! Late May means, as many of you know, I submitted students’ grades and headed into sabbatical. Soon after, with a suitcase packed for each...
All Things Italy April 2022 April is the Cruelest Month?
Whew! What a month it’s been! This bouquet of flowers captures one of April’s surprising bright spots, which have punctuated periods of stress. T. S. Eliot’s oft-quoted line, “April is the cruelest month,” often has...
All Things Italy March 2022
Visions of gardens like this one in Fiesole entice many to travel to Tuscany and elsewhere in Italy Dear Friends: I’ve finally done it. I’ve booked my first flight to Italy since before Covid shut...
All Things Italy February 2022
La Fine di Febbraio . . . Finalmente! A flowering apricot tree at sunrise in rural Tuscany signals Spring's soon arrivalPhoto by Scilla Sonnino Dear Friends: The end of February is upon us, and that...
All Things Italy January 2022
Dear Friends: It’s that time in late January when many of us lose our late-December aspirations for the New Year. How are your resolutions holding up as we slouch toward February? What more can we do...
All Things Italy December 2021
A sunset view near Sorrento on the Bay of Naples Dear Friends: I am a little later than I had planned in writing to you. It’s that time of year, you know? Schedules sometimes go...
All Things Italy Fall 2021
An autumn view of Ragusa Ibla, Sicily Dear friends, Here we are, deep into autumn, past Halloween and approaching Thanksgiving. I missed October in writing to you, and here’s why: ...
Writing Places & Bagni di Lucca, Italy
Bagni di Lucca, Italy, on the Lima River in Tuscany (Photo Credit: By Keith Ruffles, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53034692) Six years ago this week, I was in one of my favorite Italian towns—Bagni di Lucca....