All Things Italy
Mothers Without Borders: A Tribute to Surrogacy
Today I’m thinking of all those who “mother” -- beyond those who have born biological children. Think Mother Teresa, for example, or Mother Ann Lee,...
After Pasqua and Pasquetta . . . Liberation Day
Pasquetta--one Italian spring tradition I wish we could import to the US--blurs sometimes into another holiday, Liberation Day. Pasquetta, or “Little Easter” (since Easter is...
Utopian and Dystopian Visions: Sicily and Engaging Italy
Monte Argentario, off the coast of southern Tuscany Emeralds in a sea of sapphire—gems among gemstones—to a romantic dreamer. To those...
A Sicilian Memoir: Simeti’s On Persephone’s Island
Mandarins and pears at an open market in Sicily. Photo: Andrew Malone , Wikimedia Commons via Flickr Mary Taylor Simeti’s memoir of...
A Past January Inauguration Day in Sicily Spurs Hope for Future
Gray skies above Catania, Sicily, in January A few years back--twelve, to be exact--I was adjusting to an unfamiliar climate and...
Coincidence or Signs? Waldensians in the News
Twice in less than 24 hours—actually, within about 12 hours—I received notice from two friends* of two recent but very different news stories about the...
The Past Hauntingly Repeats Itself? National Elections of 1844
George Perkins Marsh portrait engraving by H. B. Hall, reprinted in Life & Letters (1888) Title Page of Life & Letters...
Coffee Passions: One of These Things is Not Like the Other
Double espresso and breakfast cookie in Rome Cappuccino from Starbucks, small One afternoon this week my desk...
Cancelled!
As Italy crawls back to life, many of us mourn the loss of trips planned and cancelled. This week-after-semester's-end at the university often finds me...
