Easter Egg Hunt in Rome
Easter is simply not Easter without an egg hunt. Long an expert in this field, we are delighted to share some of our favorite Insider’s […]
A Superlative Villa
Insider’s Italy clients usually know what they want — whether a special three city trip, an archeological exploration of Sicily, a week of perfect swimming […]
Back to Culture !
The Italy we know, the Italy we love, this week came one step closer to looking at itself in the mirror and saying : “oh […]
Italy’s National Day
Italians are used to being at home so a holiday is not necessarily a break from their normal routine, but today’s National Day, the Festa […]
Passione
In these endless weeks of COVID-19 lockdown, friends in Paris told me that what they missed most was going out in the sun. I have […]
Yearning for Archeology
During lockdown, I reread Mary Beard’s “The Colosseum” and the smashing Ingrid Rowland “From Pompei”. Both are personal favorites from our Insider’s Italy Reading Lists. […]
Si riparte ! (We’re off !)
“Si riparte !” We are off. Well to some extent, we certainly are. We also are not. Regional governors Italy wide and city mayors remind […]
Restaurants Open : Mamma Mia !
Italy is not a country of take-out food. Restaurateurs have had mixed results in the last weeks since national regulation allowed for the commerce of […]
A Setback in Venice and the House in Centena
Antonella in Venice despairs, and we with her, that today Venice’s museums decided not to reopen on Monday despite the region’s all-clear to do so. […]
Venice Rediscovered
Since lockdown began, I have travelled everywhere in Italy in my head. I am of course also storing there the trips I was planning for […]
Mamma
A day late for Mother’s Day, but no matter. Insider’s Italy, the 32 year old personalized travel planning company I run with my husband Robert, […]
Listening to Italy
With the world on pause, now is a unique opportunity to listen to those close to you, or to those you wish were closer to […]
Drawing from Traditional Music, Celebrating Traditional Music
In a time of uncertainty and social isolation, playing and singing music is tremendously sustaining. Music from our past, that draws us far back into past generations, can be […]
The Dawn of Phase Two
Tomorrow is the day when Italy, after 56 days of national lock down, steps from Phase 1 to Phase 2. Italian prime minister Conte […]
At Home : Letters from Italy at the Time of Coronavirus. Story Twelve : Milano
The locomotive of Italy is Milan, a city that Romans love to compare unfavorably to their capital for its inferior weather and much higher pollution levels but […]
Meaningful Travel
In these fraught times, it seems to me that the best thing to do is to immerse yourself in what is most meaningful to you. […]
“Phase Two” and Favetta
“Fase 2” has been announced, and all of Italy was listening. Last night at 8 PM, coinciding with most Italians’ dinner hour, Italy’s prime […]
La Festa della Liberazione
We added a second Italian flag to our windows today. Today is the Festa della Liberazione, marking the liberation of Italy by the Allies. All across […]
“I think it is a magic place”
While selecting photos for our new website (nearly ready to launch !) I came across this essay by Isabel, then aged nearly seven, dictated with […]
Happy 2773th Birthday, Rome !
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ROME, ON YOUR 2773TH BIRTHDAY ! I love you so : you are the city where my grandparents arrived one hundred years […]
What is Normality ?
The reported number of deaths from coronavirus in Italy rose by 433 on Sunday, 49 less than on Saturday, taking the total number to 23,660. The […]
At Home : Letters from Italy at the Time of Coronavirus. Story Eleven : Spello
Much of what I love to wear is made by Paola. Paola is a transplanted Roman who moved to Spello in Umbria in 1996, and […]
Lockdown Pasquetta
Pasquetta is my favorite holiday of the year, and this is because I was born, grew up in and have lived most of my life […]
Easter Egg Hunt in Rome
In honor of a beloved family tradition, we present a blog of several years ago. Buona Pasqua ! Easter is not Easter without an […]
Good Friday in Rome in Times of Coronavirus
Good Friday in Italy is the one day of the year when the bells do not ring. This is odd, even if you are not […]
Waiting — or not — for Easter in Coronavirus Italy
I am not a Catholic, but in the past my own Roman Easter eve tradition has been to attend the mass at Sant’Anselmo, on the Aventino […]
At Home : Letters from Italy at the Time of Coronavirus. Story Ten : Naples (and the Presepio)
My friend Alberto is a gifted presepio artist who lives in the community of Barra in Naples. Alberto’s presepio, or creche figures, are remarkable 12 centimeter (3.75 […]
At Home : Letters from Italy at the Time of Coronavirus. Story Nine : Sicily
Silvia, owner with her husband of Mandranova, a Sicilian agriturismo inn our clients love, is as frank as ever : “The period we are living […]
Finding Solace in Pictures
In these days I have found comfort in reviewing photographs taken by my grandparents, and of my grandparents, from 100 years ago when they […]
Palm Sunday
Much of Italy awakened this morning to the sound of church bells, easier to hear than usual because in Italy there is essentially no traffic. […]
At Home : Letters from Italy at the Time of Coronavirus. Story Eight : Treviso.
Giorgia in Treviso is an outstanding cook. The best holiday meal I ever had was in her home when she lived in Rome : tiny […]
A Little Bit of Paradise
“La casa di campagna dei miei nonni materni, in questi giorni la sto pulendo e mettendo a posto.“ “My maternal grandparents’ house, during these lockdown […]
Pesce d’Aprile
Pesce D’Aprile ! “April Fish” ! April Fools ! One of my earliest childhood memories is when I was three, and the stocky doorman of our […]
At Home : Letters from Italy at the Time of Coronavirus. Story Seven : Naples, Rome, Venice.
SABRINA IN NAPLES Sabrina is one of the most dynamic Italians I know, with flashing eyes, a ready smile, sharp intellect and an insatiable […]
Vinegar at the Time of Coronavirus
Insider’s Italy often books private visits with food artisans. One whom clients invariably say became a friend and revolutionized their understanding vinegar is Mariangela, the […]
Bergamo
Jason Horowitz is a Rome neighbor, a friend of many friends, someone I have wanted to meet for a long time after he wrote a […]
The Patrimony of our Elders
My friend Marcus, whom I went to school with in Rome, this morning sent me the link to a recording made yesterday in Bergamo, the […]
At Home : Letters from Italy at the time of Coronavirus. Story Six : the Veneto.
Today’s reports are from Venice and Verona, both the Veneto, a region which is not the epicenter of Italy’s coronavirus epidemic but in terms of […]
Day 14
It has been two weeks now that Italy, the world’s center of active coronavirus cases with 50,418 cases at present – more than double the […]
Making Bread
My New York friend Lucy married Luciano, from a small town in the Abruzzi, in 1972. She is a classicist and a journalist, is […]
Day Ten
It is not easy to lock down in a small apartment with teenagers. And not for a day, or for a week, but for the […]
Buon San Giuseppe ! (Happy Saint Joseph’s Day)
I am republishing this because I have no new photos to share of succulent Saint Joseph’s day pastries from our pasticcerie. In these unspeakable days in […]
At Home : Letters from Italy at the time of Coronavirus. Story Five : With Two Lagotti Romagnoli.
This evening at 6 PM, several of my friends did not have the heart to take out their trumpets and pot lids with wooden spoons, […]
At Home : Letters from Italy at the time of Coronavirus. Story Four : Furore.
“It is such a delicate moment”. So wrote me this evening Debbie. I had said to her earlier how I felt that life had, in […]
A Purposeful Return to the Past
Come the liberation from this nightmare, the dogs of Italy will be skin and bones, as they are perpetually escorted on walks by stir crazy […]
At Home : Letters from Italy at the time of Coronavirus. Story Three : Civitanova Marche.
On day 5, Italians are realising to what extent they are creatures of habit. Now that some of the most precious daily rites are denied, […]
At Home : Letters from Italy at the time of Coronavirus. Story Two : Venice.
We are now four days into the surreal social experiment that is quarantining an entire country of 60.5 million Italians in their homes, this […]
At Home : Letters from Italy at the time of Coronavirus. Story One : Rome.
I hear it from clients every day, those who were planning their weddings, anniversaries, family travels, first time trips. Every trip was a […]
“Roma Ai Tempi del Coronavirus”
“I boil them. I take them home at the end of the day and when I am making my dinner I boil a pot of […]
Waiting with Italy, waiting for Italy
So much to say about the Coronavirus, which has circulated in much of the world for weeks if not months, and was first identified in […]
Rome in the Winter is Magic
Around this time of year I awaken one morning in Rome, and notice that there is a change. The light has taken on another quality. […]
The Beloved Hotel
In the 30 years we have run Insider’s Italy, we have investigated hundreds and hundreds of hotels and inns. And with the passage of years, […]
Longing for Italy
There are moments when I am not in Italy and when I am overwhelmed by a longing for it. As you review the photo essay […]
A Toast to the Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene !
It makes our hearts sing to know that not only does the pizza of Naples have UNESCO World Heritage recognition and protection, but since last […]
Rome in August
“Pronto Margherita ? “ “Si.” “Ciao, sono Claudio. Tu ad agosto non parti, vero ?” “No Claudio, non parto. Tu sai che per volonta’ mia […]
Rome is a City of Animals
Rome is a city of swifts, whose arrival close to the day of San Benedetto (March 21) marks for me the beginning of spring. Their […]
Rome and Memory
Only children, in my experience, maintain an ongoing conversation with themselves much of the time, a habit we establish in early childhood. Adults are not […]