Latest Posts
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Around the world at the speed of light: Marconi, part II
The boy who had it all . . . wanted more. The young Gulielmo Marconi, living with his wealthy family in an Italian villa amid green pastures and woods, dreamed of bringing countries together. This was in the 1890s. The… Continue reading
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Looking for Marconi
Before “wireless” meant a Wi-Fi router in your home or office (the “Wi” is for wireless), it meant “radio” in radio’s early days, in the 1920s. “Turn on the wireless, Sweetie.” And before that, it was the word that a… Continue reading
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Portichi di Bologna
Bologna feels old, older than Florence. A mere 37-minute train ride from the touristy Florence, Bologna had its heyday a couple of centuries before the Renaissance. But arriving in Bologna from the U.S. late yesterday, we are swept up by… Continue reading
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Italy as Middle-Earth
Leaving for Italy in four days, we’ll be looking for a world with older layers of time underfoot. We’ll begin in Bologna, which claims the oldest university in the world (started 1088 C.E.). Then to Fano, a much smaller city on the… Continue reading
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Sorrow at Urbino’s Sugar Café
Let’s meet at the Sugar Café. Buongiorno, Giovanni. . . . Buongiorno, my friend. If Giovanni Garbugli was at his café when you arrived, he might be the waiter who brought out your order of coffee, pastries, and salami, with… Continue reading
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Once more, to the lake
Salve, cara mèi lettrici. I interrupt this long silence to say we, my wife and I, are proceeding on our plans to reach Italy next year. Things are going well, while I plan to play tenor sax today in Decatur’s… Continue reading
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Mi scusi
Dear Italy, I’m sorry.I am sorry I can’t say anythingto your hazy mountainside of olive treesrising outside our Romanesque windowopened like the door of a confessional.I’m sorry I haveno words, not even in English,for the colors in the roof tiles,floorboards,… Continue reading
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Lost in Translation
As Americans, we are twice-removed from how it feels to be in a European country. Our political consciousness is shaped by a two-party system (now more emotionally tribal than conservative-liberal) and elections set on two- and four-year cycles, rather than… Continue reading
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The universal faith — money
How earthlings think about money is strangely consistent around the world. Looking at renting an apartment in an Italian city on the Adriatic, the same system that measures market values in Decatur, Ga., is in effect there too, or in… Continue reading
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Lessons for us today, from Italians
I love old books lining bookshelves. The collection in the North Carolina home of a couple of friends held classics of Machiavelli scholarship. I gently pulled out, like sneaking a square of chocolate fudge, a vellum-bound volume. Carol Darr, the… Continue reading
An American journalist heads for Italy to see his country changing from afar. 