My Life in Italy, Part 2: Where are the Walls? and How do I Flush?
So… I left off in Part 1 on my first full day in Italy in 1983. I am at the tip of the boot in Reggio Calabria, suffering severe jet lag, having walked miles and miles for an awful cafeteria meal, and now I am boarding a...
My Life in Italy, Part 1
“The Warm Table” For years, people have asked me to tell the story of how I ended up with my dual US-Italy life. The reality is that it was a series of somewhat unrelated events that all came together to create an...
Starbucks digs its claws into Italy, and why that saddens me.
With its massive global expansion, Starbucks has always left Italy alone. After all, how do you open a store in the country you copied your model from?
The Tuscan Connection to Groundhog Day & Punxsutawney Phil
Groundhog Day in Italy? Well, not really, but let’s say Punxsutawney Phil may just have a long lost ancestor in Tuscany. Every year, Phil gets taken out in a bug celebration for what we, in America...
7 Things Americans Can Learn From Italians – My Take
An article recently appeared on HuffPost Travel that went quite viral. It is a list of 7 things that would make Americans better off if they would adapt from Italian culture. The article (Original Linked Here)...
Olive Garden cooking school in Tuscany?
Updated 02/2014 Olive Garden is one of those places that really sets my blood to boil. Every time I hear the word ‘Hospitaliano’ I begin to cringe and twitch. When I hear them say ‘When you’re here,...
Food Marketing Terms That Really Chap My Hide…
Many of my posts here are about the oddities I find living in Italy as an American, but the reverse holds true as well. Having spent so much time in Italy, when I come back to the states, there are things that are normal to...
It’s A Small World After All
In our business, we meet people from all over the world. Small World stories can be expected from time to time. You know, “Hey! That person is my neighbor”, or “We went to the same school”, or “we...
Send Up The White Smoke : The Vatican You Didn’t Know About
Just ten miles from our home base of Soriano bel Cimino is the city of Viterbo, which is practically unknown internationally. However, this city of roughly 65,000 residents holds a place in history that is especially relevant as...
We Came, We Harvested, We Made Olive Oil!
In November 2011, Culture Discovery Vacations brought a group of guests to a small traditional cold press olive mill. They harvested olives in Umbria, brought them to the mill, and operated the mill, making their own olive oil...