I've been obsessed with Italy for as long as I can remember, but international travel certainly wasn't part of my childhood the way it is for Lumina. In fact, I didn't make it to Italy until I was twenty-seven—before that, I simply didn't have the resources to travel. In the decades since that first …
The Venetian Masquerade
After enjoying Philip Gwynne Jones’ memoir, To Venice with Love: A Midlife Adventure, I immediately ordered his novels—mostly out of curiosity about how Jones accidentally fell into a career as a novelist. If there were a word for feeling simultaneously jealous of, impressed by, and happy for …
To Venice with Love: A Midlife Adventure
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to pack up your entire life and move somewhere absolutely magical? Ever half-jokingly contemplated moving to Italy as you adjust to life back home after a trip to the bel paese? Or maybe you have real intentions of making the move someday (I do), and are …
Gran Caffè Gambrinus, Naples
I'm Canadian, and I love Canada—I really do—but I wake up every day homesick for Italy. When I need an "Italy fix" (which is daily), there's comfort in books about the bel paese, and of course there's also the endless rabbit hole that is the Internet. The journey through that rabbit hole isn't …
How to Talk to Children About Art
When Lumina was five, I brought her to the Capitoline Museums in Rome. My plan was that we’d only stay for about an hour, and that we’d stick with just the Palazzo dei Conservatori—especially the courtyard, which I knew would make quite an impression with its Marforio fountain and its fragmented …
Incontinent on the Continent: My Mother, Her Walker, and Our Grand Tour of Italy
I was just out picking up a few groceries. I didn’t expect the bookstores in my neighbourhood to be open; all non-essential businesses had been closed for months. (Though how bookstores can ever be considered “non-essential”—especially during a lockdown—is a mystery to me.) But there it was: a used …
Lesson learned from COVID-19: Travel while you can
Like millions of people, I'm waiting anxiously to see if I'll be able to go ahead with my travel plans this spring. COVID-19 has turned the world of travel upside down, with Italy one of the hardest-hit regions in the world. As of right now (and realizing things could change overnight), my intention …
Eco-shaming: One of the least effective paths to a greener planet
I'm as guilty of it as anyone. I see you walking down the street with your throw-away Starbucks cup in hand, and I silently judge you for not being organized or conscientious enough to have brought your own reusable thermos. I see you carrying a plastic bag full of plastic-wrapped groceries, and …
Is flight shame warranted? A (conditional) defence of air travel
The 2010s saw airline travel develop a reputation as an environmental villain we should all strive to banish from our lives. 2019 was particularly confronting for frequent flyers: instead of taking a nine hour flight, environmental hero and role model Greta Thunberg crossed the Atlantic on a yacht …
Escaping the Noise and Crowds of Rome: Babington’s Tea Room, Rain or Shine
Did you know that it actually rains more in Rome than it does in London? While summer days are typically sunny in Rome, the other seasons bring plenty of precipitation—and as this week's forecast suggests, November is usually Rome's soggiest month. I first visited Babington's Tea Room on a …
Sitting Here Could Be Expensive
This photo is from August 2018, but as of July 2019, doing this could mean a fine of up to 400€. No, no - not the flashing (especially when you're only five years old, geez). While Audrey Hepburn ate gelato sitting on the Spanish Steps in Roman Holiday, and I - along with millions of other …
Canova in the Clouds
Time spent in Rome is not ordinary time. When you are in Rome, it is as though you exist within the pages of a three-dimensional (hi)story book that has somehow assumed the form of a city. And the stories read here stay with you long after you toss your last coin in the Trevi and bid Rome a fond …
Are You Ready for Roma? Climbing the Dome of St. Peter’s Basilica
When Lumina was three days old, I looked into her newborn eyes and promised to bring her to Rome someday. They say that three-day-old humans don’t smile, but I swear that Lumina did when I made this promise. I went to Rome - alone - when Lumina was two, and again when she was three, but it …
Madeline and the Cats of Rome
In 2001, Rome officially declared its feral cat population, which numbers around 300,000, to be an integral part of the city's historical and cultural patrimony. Whether they are casually sunning themselves on 2000-year-old plinths in the Forum or prowling around the ruins of Pompey's Theatre, the …
Lumina’s Top Ten in Rome
For me, planning a trip is almost as much fun as taking one. I love anticipating both the pleasures and the challenges of an ambitious itinerary spun from a combination of daydreams, research, and past experience. One of the best parts of planning our upcoming trip is that since it’s only been about …