One of the most inspiring expat blogs I’ve come across in Italy must be Mozzarella Mamma which is the creation of Trisha, an American journalist who has been living and working in Rome for the past two decades. She’s an inspiration simply because she has managed to juggle being a professional, bringing up three…
Continue reading ➞ Blogging around the world: Mozzarella Mamma
Apart from the history, architecture and historical sights to see in Italy there are endless opportunities to experience the products of its thriving culture. So many people travel to Italy and simply tick off the main tourist sites off the bucket list. Colosseum, check, Ponte Vecchio, Check, Leaning tower of Pisa, Check, Instead of being…
Continue reading ➞ Italian festivals and theaters for opera lovers
I love all things Vintage so I was so happy when I came across this vintage souvenir from Messina. In the series of postcards the landscape of the city, the port and the mountains on the other side of the strait at Calabria are always the same yet the infrastructure is ever-changing.…
Continue reading ➞ Vintage Messina
This week on Blogging Around the World, we are back in ‘Bella Italia’ to be specific Florence and a sassy American gal called Misty and the struggles she describes on her blog Surviving in Italy. Now there is plenty of blog action happening out of Florence but you aren’t going to find anything quite like…
Continue reading ➞ Blogging Around the world: Surviving in Italy
Even if I dislike shopping around touristy type shops I am often surprised to find stunningly original items in amongst the tacky kitsch. Working my through I heart Sicily post cards, every possibly shaped lava sculpture, bamboo flutes and knickknacks I saw these little babies. A series of handcrafted tools used to pick those…
Continue reading ➞ Postcards from Sicily: Discovery
It is always a challenge for non native speakers of any language to learn and assimilate into a new country but Italy has its own particular surprises reserved for struggling expats. Before moving to Italy permanently I thought I was quite savvy with my Italian. After all I had almost majored in Italian, lived…
Continue reading ➞ Tongue tied in Italy
Today we have a lovely guest post by Jessica from The Turquoise Compass After spending 6 weeks on Australia's East Coast, I couldn't leave without getting a taste of the West Coast as well. With only 3 months in Australia (relatively speaking), I can't do it all (even though I want to), so I…
Continue reading ➞ What to do With 10 Days in Western Australia
Next up on the Blogging Around the World bandwagon is a delightful chit chat with Joanna from Multifarious Meanderings who enlightens us about family, humor, life and misadventures in the Hérault region of France. Joanna says on her about page that: Multifarious Meanderings is simply an opportunity for her to write up and share a few…
Continue reading ➞ Blogging around the world: Multifarious Meanderings
The scirocco is an infernal African air current from the desert who whips up the heat in the Mediterranean to unbearable levels during the summer . If this hot wind is still the day is pleasant but if it is on the prowl it makes the air too hot to breathe. Someone who…
Continue reading ➞ Sicilian word of the day: Scirocco
Daphne’s house: Giardini Naxos, Castelmola and Taormina Taormina is a beautiful town to explore but it is terribly touristy and there are many other things to see in the vicinity. Be sure to visit Casa Cuseni an historic house which became like a real character in one of the best books around about Sicily…
Continue reading ➞ A Sicilian wish list for the summertime
When I was a child I had an Uncle who was terribly capricious, a real joker (he still is until this day) and he took great pleasure in teaching my brother and I all the colourful Italian swear words possible. My Uncle thought it was all terribly funny and hoped we’d use them in front…
Continue reading ➞ Sicilian’s flare for uttering profanities
I managed to get a glimpse of the metaphorical 'Primavera' while jostling in the crowd at the Medieval parade as part of the Infiorata festival at Noto, Syracuse but I'm afraid I've seen very little of her since. I wonder where she has gone?
I’ve always been a lover of the travel writing genre, ever since my mother gave me a paperback of Bill Bryson’s ‘Neither here nor there’ which took me backpacking through Europe before I left high school. Since then I have made my way through many travel writing classics from Paul Theroux to Bruce Chatwin. Many…
Continue reading ➞ A Sicilian Summer with Brian Johnston
I've always loved Sicilian churches prolific use of mosaics. Last summer I got to the church of the Madonna of Tindari (ME) and managed to sneak a shot of this beautiful image of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. These mosaics are like living breathing operatic scenes filled with life and drama. I think I'll…
Continue reading ➞ Postcards from Sicily: Gethsemane
A detail of the bell tower of Messina. I was looking through some old shots the other day and I loved the elegance of this shot, even if it was sweltering when I took the picture. The cockerel crows every midday and midnight in the Piazza Duomo of Messina. He begins an elaborate dance of clockwork…
Continue reading ➞ Clockwork Messina
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