Category: Italy
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American in Roma
Having missed my annual trek to Italy in ’05, I gave myself two full weeks this year for much needed R&R in my adopted città. So many missions: study, shop, mangia bene and explore my neighborhood. My first day in Rome, I wandered from my apartment near the Colosseum to explore another ancient site: the Roman Forum.…
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Il Mio Appartamento
Some very quick impressions about my little apartment — il mio appartamento piccolo. Things will be different, not because this is another time — but another neighborhood. I am staying in a tiny little apartment. Full of beams and slanted ceilings. Most of my attention has been focused on navigating my head around those beams, a…
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I Miei Amici Italiani
My Italian Friends. Walking around the familiar cobblestone streets of Rome for the first time upon my return, I felt like I was back among old friends. Ah, Roma. I ran into these little guys in one of my favorite piazzas in Rome. They were giggling and running together around the base of a circular…
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Bound for Rome
I’m heading to Rome in a few days. Some folks are begging me not to go — they claim everytime I go overseas, some calamity befalls my city. But most are happy for me. It is so hard to believe that it has been over a year since I was there. I guess I needed…
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Last Week in Rome 2001 Edition
GRAZIE E ARRIVEDERCI Thank you and Goodbye. This is the phrase printed on the bottom of every receipt you get in Italy. It seemed somehow fitting as I bid farewell to my ancient city. Writing my final dispatch from Rome was almost impossible. What could I possibly say to wrap up this adventure? That last…
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Sempre Diritto Part Three 2001
During this week, sempre diritto reared its head once again. Literally, it means “always straight” or, straight ahead. Italians often say this when you ask for directions. It signifies to me that I am lost. I had a revelation: getting lost is una metafora per la vita. It is not so much that we have…
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Florence Trip with Friends 2001
OUR VISIT TO FLORENCE This week it was clearly time for me to visit this Tuscan city of Michelangelo, Dante, and leather jackets. And so, my friends and I hopped onto the Eurostar and headed to the sepia city of Firenze. We didn’t need our tour books for this visit, because one of my favorite…
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Due Ragazze from Marion Street
Two girls from Marion Street in Albany, Oregon, together in Rome. My best friend from childhood visited me with her family during my tenth week. It was, without doubt, my best week in Italy. I have known this woman since I was three years old. When Sandy found out I was coming to Rome, she decided, on…
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Venice through My Eyes (2001)
I am not the first person to write about this magical, mysterious, and dark city which I visited in my ninth week. And though I was bowed by my own audacity, I still gave it a try. You remember that scene in “Wizard of Oz” when Dorothy steps out of the house? That is exactly…
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Sempre Diritto Redux (2001)
Italy is beautiful, fabulous, and embraces a much different way of life. It is also a country most maddening, with its own share of quirks. Read on. Sempre Diritto, “straight ahead.” You may recall that in Calabria whenever I asked for directions, I was told sempre diritto. In Week eight, I got my revenge when…