Italy is a fascinating country, but an infuriating one as well. As someone who has now spent more than half of her life here, much of which was spent working as a foreign correspondent and later as a reporter for an Italian newspaper, I feel that I know the country inside and out. The purpose of this blog, which I set up to accompany the book of the same name I wrote in 2013, is to report and comment on facts, events, proposals and even rumors. I hope you enjoy it.
April 21st was Rome’s 2,767th birthday and Roman legionaires carrying imperial shields, gladiators, vestal virgins, and Roman matrons were on hand to celebrate the legendary founding of the Eternal City by twin brothers Romulus and Remus.The event involving some 1,800 actors and included several battle reconstructions. Romulus is believed to have been he first king of Rome, […]
And now what? Are the parents of twins whose embryos have been implanted in another woman with a similar last name going to feel any better now that several staff members at Rome’s Sandro Pertini hospital are under investigation? An in vitro procedure appears to have gone awry at some point along the way: when […]
Ostia Antica, the ancient seaport town that is next only to Pompeii in its impressive state of preservation, is apparently much bigger than was originally thought, Roman and British archeologists said recently. A second part of the ancient Roman port has been unearthed indicating that in the first century B.C., the city of Ostia was […]
As Rome gears up for the hordes of pilgrims and tourists who have arrived here for both the Easter holiday and then the double canonization on April 27 of former popes John XXIII and John Paul II, there was more to deal with than just simple logistics. The city’s illegal thousands of illegal peddlers all […]
Everybody (or so it seems) loves gelato. And the most pro-active gelato-lovers also like tasting a lot of the stuff in different gelaterie. A taster’s dream, therefore, will be the fourth edition of the Gelato Festival, which allows visitors to taste a variety of felato flavors and cocktails without having to spend much money. It will be […]
