This Editor’s Note originally appeared in the August/September 2024 issue of Dream of Italy. Members receive access to more than 190 back issues—if you’re not a member, join here. Did you get the word play on “Big Parma”? Like “Big Pharma”? All credit for the title and the cover story goes to contributing writer Kevin Raub. Parma, with just 200,000 …
Big Parma (August/September 2024)
This article originally appeared in the August/September 2024 issue of Dream of Italy. About four miles southeast of Parma in the middle of nowhere – “Culonia,” as the Italians might say (roughly translated, “the ass end of nowhere”) – there’s a small trattoria facing the countryside that might catch your eye if you happen to be driving by (it’s a …
Dream Day: Get Lost in a Labyrinth (August/September 2024)
This article originally appeared in the August/September 2024 issue of Dream of Italy. Hidden in the province of Parma, the Labirinto della Masone is a place to get lost. And then found. The art collector and designer Franco Maria Ricci created the park consisting of a museum, a publishing house, exhibition places and halls for parties, surrounded by bamboo mazes. …
“Dream” Job: The Trials and Tribulations of a Guidebook Author (August/September 2024)
This article originally appeared in the August/September 2024 issue of Dream of Italy. As I zip up the A22 motorway towards Bolzano, I can’t shake the sinking feeling I have about my choice of accommodation. You see, when you book as many hotels, Airbnbs and privately managed apartments as someone who writes travel guidebooks for a living, your sixth sense …
Italian Poem: Settembre by Luigi Pirandello
This appeared on the back cover of the August/September 2024 issue. SETTEMBRE di Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936) Le speranze se ne vanno come rondini a fin d ’anno: torneranno? Nel mio cor vedovi e fidi stanno ancora appesi i nidi che di gridi già sonaron brevi e gaj: vaghe rondini, se mai con i raj del mio Sole tornerete, le casucce …
Dream Big: Planning Ahead to Attend the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics
With the Paris Olympics and Paralympics wrapping up, all eyes are on Italy which will host the XXV Olympic Winter Games, “Milano Cortina 2026” for shorthand, in 2026. Italy last hosted the Winter Olympics in 2006 in Turin. I was so lucky to attend the Torino Games and have to tell you that it was one of the most exhilarating …
Preview of Travel to Rome During the Vatican’s Jubilee in 2025
As Rome gears up for the Vatican’s Jubilee in 2025, visitors from around the world are eagerly planning their pilgrimages to the Eternal City but that doesn’t come without headaches for all who plan to visit Rome in 2025. Celebrated every 25 years, the Giubileo or Jubilee, also known as the Holy Year, is a time of universal pardon and …
June/July 2024: Enna Sicily, Learning Italian From Netflix, Tuscany’s Il Silene
Sicily: From the EnnaSide Out This part of central Sicily, awash in storybook rolling hills that color-shift between off-putting brown (August to November), wheat-fueled yellow (June and July), flower-peppered whimsical (spring crocus, autumn mandrakes, marigolds, meadow daisies) and, at its most beautiful, verdant Crayola green (March to early May), has always given back to those willing to put in the …
Stay for Free Along this Ancient Sardinian Hiking Route
The Santa Barbara Cammino Mine Trail runs for 300 miles throughout the ancient land of Sardinia. Historical, cultural and religious elements along the route make for a riveting trip as you walk the trails miners trekked for millennia. The walk is divided into 30 “stages” which take into consideration areas with accommodations and points of interest where you might prefer to …
Editor’s Note: June/July 2024 Dream of Italy Issue
This Editor’s Note originally appeared in the June/July 2024 issue of Dream of Italy. Members receive access to more than 190 back issues—if you’re not a member, join here. Like all of us, I venture to guess, I never feel like I spend enough time in Sicily. Just like the rest of Italy, it would take several lifetimes to peel …