Stumbling Blocks of Rome
By Douglas Weissman To Romans, Italy’s capital is a fast-paced metropolis of modern culture supported by millennia of tradition. To tourists, Rome embodies the…
Tag: Italy
At Shelley’s Grave: The Ineffable Calico Cat at il Cimitero Straniero
So I said, most impractically, to the obliging calico cat with yellow eyes, as we turned to depart the old Protestant Cemetery, that walled oasis of g…
The Magic of Venice and ‘The Thief Lord’
by Jessica A. Beck When I first read Cornelia Funke’s The Thief Lord, I couldn’t have been more than 10 years old. I was a girl…
IN A QUIET CORNER OF ITALY …TRIESTE
Destination: Trieste, Italy and Rovinj, Croatia Dates: September 25–October 4, 2015 (9 nights) For more information on this trip please contact Literary Traveler. 1-855-LIT-TRVL Readings: Selected readings…
James Joyce and the Golden Gate of Pula
By Sara Whitestone I stood in Portorata Square in Pula, Croatia, the late afternoon sun shining through the Arc of the Sergii. Today this Roman…
Puccini of Lucca, Italy
By James Clark Lucca, Italy is a beautiful town surrounded by a 12 metre thick and 25 metre high 16th century wall, which runs around Lucca’s…
Following Caravaggio through Rome
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, called Caravaggio for the name of the small town in northern Italy where he grew up, was known for his disdainful p…
Sprezzatura in Cinque Terre, The 5 Villages of Effortless Beauty
by Nicole Kennedy The Italians have an expression for art that the English language has still not found an equivalent for: sprezzatura. Sprezzatura is the…
Gods and Monsters
Towering mountains, the Cyclops Coast and the sparkling Mediterranean have beckoned seafarers, conquerors and tourists to Sicily since Neolithic times…
Michelangelo, The Flower of Florence
by David Sclar The city of Florence, Italy, is the unmistakable home of the great painter, architect, and sculptor, Michelangelo Buonarroti, known today simply as…