-
HOW TO EASILY SURVIVE AND THRIVE IN SMALL TOWN ITALY.
“Life is a daring adventure or nothing.”Helen Keller Oh, the humility! Surprisingly, moving to a new country is the easy part. Living in one is a minefield of unexpected ‘translation’ challenges and cultural faux pas. Which makes for some embarrassing moments and wonderful surprises. Like knowing the difference between’morbido’ ‘(soft) and’morto’ ‘(dead) in reference to someone’s state of being or what time of day you should order a macchiato instead of a cappuccino. A cornetto, on the other hand, is not an ice cream that you order; rather, it is a delightful croissant that is freshly baked and filled with a variety of delectable jams or custard. Why all the…
-
CITTÀ DELLA PIEVE: A TOWN OF ART, HISTORY AND RED BRICKS
“People in small towns, much more than big cities, share a destiny.” Richard Russo You’ve heard of Rome. Florence, Venice, Siena or perhaps even Cortona, and you’ve seen the Colosseum, the Grand Canal, the Duomo di Firenze and possibly that house from the movie Under the Tuscan Sun. And now let me introduce you to Città della Pieve, an Umbrian hilltop town. It’s a red brick oasis in the green heart of Italy, located near the border of Tuscany. I’d like to begin by saying, you can’t swing a cat in this part of the world without hitting a hill top town. However, it’s important to note that they are…
-
PRELUDE TO A JOURNEY
“A journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step.”- Loa Tzu Between 1951 and 1960 that single step lead close to 48,000 Italian men, women and children to take an arduous, emotional and sometimes treacherous voyage. They were bound for a country they only knew of by name (Australia). This was at a time when most people in Italy hadn’t ventured further than their own village. Nonetheless, these brave mavericks packed up what little belongings they had, boarded a ship and crossed an ocean to forged a new life in a strange land. In doing so they changed themselves and a country forever. Amongst those who made that…
-
LONDON TO HASTINGS 1066
Sounds like the title of a sex pistol’s song but in fact it was a recent trip I took. Day one. I had the pleasure of spending a few days indulging in a classic London experience. Our day began at the Tower bridge where we took the Thames clipper to the Tate Britain museum. From the river we could fully appreciate many of London’s ancient and modern architectural wonders including the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye and The Shard London. Once at the Tate we visited the Van Gogh exhibition and was very happy to see The Starry Night in person, as well as his other beautiful works..After our art filled morning we…
