Living here in Terracina – where my parents came every summer in their adolescence – I run into a lot of people who knew them way back when. I have to take their word for it, but they insist it’s true: We knew your parents back in the 70s before they went to America. Well, I […]
Italy
A Thousand Words
Question: How are you? Answer: Well. Happy. Calm. Exuberant. Inspired. Curious. Dreamy. Tanned. Excellent…. This post has been brought to you by Deliciousbaby Photo Friday.
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Beach Eats
One of the reasons I decided to break my move to Italy into two parts – rather than staying in Dublin until I’ve published my thesis – is that I wanted to take advantage of beach season. Goodness knows I could use a little sunshine after a year in Ireland. I like to head to […]
Perfect Strangers
“Listen,” says my mother. “I think you need to go over and visit Zia Malvina.” Zia Malvina is my mother’s aunt. In the summers, she lives across the hall from my Nonna Lucia’s old apartment – the place I am now calling “home.” Zia Malvina is 80, and her husband passed away ten years ago. […]
I Burattini della Piazza
A puppet show in the piazza on Saturday night; two euro a seat. Counts and magistrates, bumbling men-a-courting, damsels in distress. Everybody gets slapped. Everybody gets kissed. Everybody gets head butted. Everybody gets called cretino. Popcorn from an old-fashioned machine – 2.25 for a large. Fun for big kids, too. This post has been brought […]
Danger, Danger; Low Voltage
The city in which I now live is small enough that I can cross it by bicycle, and small enough that I already know where to find things I need. I’ve got my butcher, I’ve got my fish vendor. I’ve got my cosmetics emporium. I know where to get household stuff and I know where […]
The Thing About Living in the Town Where My Parents Fell in Love…
…is that sometimes I’m walking along the streets, looking at the places where they might have eaten gelato or gone to the movies. Or I’m on the beach, where they might have gone swimming together and watched the waves. I’ll see a couple of teenagers flirting or making out. I’ll think: Ah, young love. Then […]
Beach Shoes to Fill
Before I left Florida last month, my mother gave me a pair of shoes. I took one look at them and knew without a doubt that Diego would have something to say when I got back to New York. Sure enough, he did. Hey, sis. Why does mom think you’re joining a convent? Har, har, […]
Under the Terracina Sun, Act I. Cast of Characters.
SETTING: Modern day. A beachside town in Italy. Beach shacks serving pasta, panini, and ice cream. A rainbow of beach umbrellas. A dead end street with a German name – Via Bad Homburg. A bare, dust-filled apartment, long-fallen into disuse. Act I. Cast of characters.
Terracina, Italia – And What I’m Doing Here
Terracina is a small beachside town in the Lazio region of Italy – Western, central, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. There are hills and mountains; beaches and Roman ruins; sailboats and tourists. In the distance, La Maga Circe – a profile-shaped mountain named for the witch of Roman myth – reclines in the sea. The […]