Categories
English Italy

Italy is for Nature Lovers

Although Italy is a small country with a relatively small population, it boasts 70% of the world’s artistic and cultural heritage sites. In fact, Italy tops the UNESCO World Heritage List with 50 sites. China follows with 47 sites, and then Spain with 44.  Italy is also one of the richest countries in Europe in […]

Categories
English Home & Family

Summer Heat and Visitors

It’s been a busy summer so far, starting with the installation of our first air conditioner and a short stay at our summer house. Followed by getting our guest home ready for many dinner and house guests. Including Hubby’s niece from New York. As you can imagine, with all our family so far away, this […]

Categories
English Italy

Groundhog Day in Italy

Time seems to fly by, especially as we get older. Since our return to active ministry, the to-do lists get longer, time seems shorter, and some days it’s hard to keep up. I can’t believe February is almost here. That means many people will be keeping an eye out for groundhogs (marmots) peeking out of […]

Categories
English Italy

The Italian Tormenta: Winter’s on the Way

The Italian word tormenta has three definitions. It can mean a blizzard. Or a turbine of powdery light snow, carried by strong winds over mountain peaks, ridges, and slopes. Finally, it is a present tense conjugation of the verb to torment. This should give you a pretty good idea of how many Italians think about […]

Categories
English Italy

Italy’s Autumn Harvest

Autumn in Italy! It’s the season for harvesting the olives — and right in our own garden at that! Ah, autumn in Italy! Olives falling from the trees, grapes ripening on the vines, and chestnuts roasting on open fires! My husband harvests our olives the traditional way. He picks them by hand, one by one. […]

Categories
English Italy

Roman Summers & Ottobrate Romane

Autumn in Italy is a wonderful season! Mostly warm and balmy – almost warm enough for sunbathing through the first part of November. It’s known as Italy’s Roman Summer, similar to the Indian Summer we used to enjoy back in the USA.  But since the early 1900s, Roman summer has been the season for special harvest […]