Before Friday, 16 March, I will have moved 23 times since I was 17 years old. After March 16, I will have moved 24 times. At this point, I consider myself a bit of an expert in this matter. I pack quickly, unpack quickly, throw away or donate anything even remotely useless to me, and…
Love Florence? Make Sure to Do This First.
Every time I tell someone I live in Florence, I’m met with the same reaction. “Oh my gosh, you live there!? I LOVE FLORENCE!” And I’m never surprised to hear it, in fact, I totally get it. I too am absolutely smitten with my city and take a lot of pride in being a Fiorentina….
Unique Activities in Florence: Renaissance-Style Ceramics Painting
For someone as artistically challenged as me, I know A LOT about traditional Renaissance ceramics painting. I know about mixing iron oxides with water, I know about glazing and how to use traditional squirrel fur brushes and a million historical tidbits. All this and more I learned from my friend Enzo. Besides his…
I asked 9 expats what it’s like to date an Italian. Here’s what they said…
So let’s see, there was the one whose name starts with a V, the one I never understood because my Italian was so awful, the one who took me to see the shores of Lake Bolsena at night, and the one taught me how to speak with a Tuscan accent. Am I missing anybody? In…
I asked 9 expats what advice they wish they would have known before moving to Italy. Here’s what they said…
As I prepare for my short move to Italy, I had a few questions for my friends and fellow bloggers who have made the choice to live in Italy full-time. While I had questions about dating and favorite words, the principal one that stood out to me was: If you could go back in time…
In Tiny Alleyways: Along the Winding Roads of the Amalfi Coast
I’ve always been curious about the driving laws in Italy. According to every Italian I’ve talked to, the laws are similar to those in the United States. You get pulled over if you’re going too fast; it’s important to obey all posted warnings and signs. In my experience, however, Italians like to play a little…
Behind the Scenes with Italian Learners from The Iceberg Project
Click play on the player at the bottom to listen to this podcast or find it on Apple Podcasts. Is a trip to Italy in your imminent future? Are you hoping that you can improve your Italian so you can really get a taste of the culture? You’re not alone. Many members of The Iceberg…
How to Learn Italian in Orvieto
It was drizzling as I walked from Febo, a bar in the center of town, back to my apartment in the Olmo quarter of town. I held my umbrella firmly in my hand and made sure to avoid the puddles between the cracks of cobblestone. As I walked across the bridge on via Malabranca, I…
In Tiny Alleyways Installment IV: 9% beers, a lit-up Coliseum and a story about lost love
Note from Cher: Names have been shorted to protect the (not-so) innocent. I did a lot of lying to myself while I lived in Italy – a lot of closing my eyes to situations or behaviors that I didn’t want to acknowledge existed. “I’m not looking for anything serious.” I would say. This is one…
War with Mosquitoes in Firenze
It might seem like all my stories from Italy have to do with bugs. A lot of them do. There aren’t a whole lot of bugs in the dry, hot climate of my hometown, Las Vegas, besides scorpions and ants. The humidity of Italy, on the other hand, is a bug’s paradise; it’s my worst…
In Tiny Alleyways: Spiders in Riomaggiore
My dad was always raving about Cinque Terre, which he pronounced Sink Ter-ray, even after I had studied Italian and taught him the right way to say it. After I told him I was going to study abroad in Italy, he’d send me pictures and links to websites all about Cinque Terre. It was one…