Dream Day in Italy: Pizza Pilgrimage to Pepe in Grani as Featured in Season 3

This article originally appeared in the August/September 2022 of Dream of Italy. This is also a featured “dream day” in Kathy McCabe’s new book, Dream Days in Italy: 30 Adventures Around the Italian Boot.  There is pizza. There is Neapolitan pizza. And then there is the pizza made by Franco Pepe in his small hometown of Caiazzo in the province …

Editor’s Note: June/July 2023 Dream of Italy Issue

This Editor’s Note originally appeared in the June/July 2023 issue of Dream of Italy. Members receive access to more than 195 back issues—if you’re not a member, join here.  Visiting Modena for the first time in February and several times more this year has been life-changing for me. I’ve been spending time in this most charming city in Emilia-Romagna to …

Three-Night Castelvetere Sul Calore Experience with Kathy McCabe in Italy April 2024

So my Regent Seven Seas cruise has incredible timing as it departs from Rome’s Civitavecchia port on April 29, 2024. That means I can attend the Festa della Madonna delle Grazie in my ancestral hometown in Campania (about 2.5 hours south) the day before, April 28th. I want to invite as many of you to join me as we can accommodate. I am creating a special 3-night …

Rome Travel News: Pantheon Entrance Fee and Direct Pompeii Train

Changes are on the horizon for visitors coming to Rome. New entrance fee for the Pantheon One of the most visited sites in the Eternal City- the 2,000 year old Pantheon– will begin charging an entrance fee on July 1, 2023. Gennaro Sangiuliano, Italy’s Culture Minister, announced it will cost five euros to enter the building. He calls the fee …

Editor’s Note: August/September 2022 Dream of Italy Issue

This article originally appeared in the August/September 2022 of Dream of Italy. I’m writing this editor’s letter from Italy where I have returned for a two-month stay after a long time away. You cannot imagine how good it feels to be back, something like a rebirth. Italy always amazes me in its ability to heal and transform. I’m filming new …

Editor’s Note: August/September 2021 Dream of Italy Issue

This Editor’s Note originally appeared in the August/September 2021 issue of Dream of Italy. Members receive access to more than 180 back issues—if you’re not a member, join here.  Throughout this strange time in the world, I’ve always felt that Italy is poised for another Renaissance, a re-birth. I’m thrilled to report that despite the state of things, in this …

Addio: In Memory of My Dad Stephen J. McCabe and My Parents

Addio, shortened from a Dio piacendo, means farewell, God willing in Italian. My father, Stephen McCabe passed away just before Christmas, just a year and a half after my mother also left this Earth. You met my parents in the Castelvetere sul Calore episode of the TV series, when we returned to my mother’s ancestral hometown. My great luck in …

Crowdfunding Restores Castelvetere’s 500-Year-Old Masterpieces

Castelvetere Sul Calore is a hidden gem of a town in the mountains of Irpinia in the southern region of Campania. It is the ancestral hometown of Dream of Italy host Kathy McCabe and was featured in an episode of the PBS series.  It’s home to about 1,000 people and is called “the terrace on the Irpinian landscape” thanks to …