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 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...
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...
