Posts by Etta Madden
All Things Italy September 2022
Dear friends: Last month I promised info about the Bay of Naples and the Sorrento Peninsula in this issue of All Things Italy. But I begin with a confession. I’ve…
Read MoreAll Things Italy July/August 2022 Fa Caldo . . . Fa Caldissimo!
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 patch of grass and…
Read MoreAll 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…
Read MoreAll Things Italy May 2022 May’s End Means a Return to Rome
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…
Read MoreAll 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…
Read MoreAll Things Italy March 2022
Dear Friends: I’ve finally done it. I’ve booked my first flight to Italy since before Covid shut down the airlines three years ago. The deed is done and the departure…
Read MoreAll Things Italy February 2022
La Fine di Febbraio . . . Finalmente! Dear Friends: The end of February is upon us, and that brings three things to my mind. First, March and spring are…
Read MoreGood News about Engaging Italy! Hey, friends. Happy Friday! Surely as we head into Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day weekend you can find a reason to be happy? I…
Read MoreAll 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…
Read MoreAll Things Italy December 2021
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 out the window . .…
Read MoreAll Things Italy Fall 2021
Dear friends, Here we are, deep into autumn, past Halloween and approaching Thanksgiving. I missed October in writing to you, and here’s why: I have been swamped with writing…
Read MoreWriting Places & Bagni di Lucca, Italy
Six years ago this week, I was in one of my favorite Italian towns—Bagni di Lucca. I’ve written about this spot in Tuscany before. It’s nestled high above the often-visited…
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