At home we cook. When we’re in San Marino and Italy we eat in restaurants. The food is good. On the menu, local dishes we like. We have favorites places where, when we go back, everyone is almost always still there. It’s old home week. That adds to the pleasure. We feel almost local. But…More
Category Archives: travel
Bolsena Revisited
There’s no escaping the castle. If you’re touring an old city in Italy, it’s likely you’ll find the looming fortified structure, harking back to earlier times, way earlier. So it is when we arrive in Bolsena, under the cover of darkness. Constructed between the 11th and 14th century, the fortress was part of the centuries-long…More
Take Me Back, Verucchio
Years ago, when I sat at the dinner table with my in-laws, and the meal was done, and the talk was loud and fun, every now and then my father-in-law would point at my wife, often waving at her with a table knife in hand, and say, “Ma te sei come la Zia Violenta.” You’re…More
The Three Towers of San Marino
You will remember this walk. And you just might break your camera/phone taking pictures. San Marino is that spectacular. A few miles inland from Rimini, San Marino is the world’s oldest republic, dating back to AD 300. Population 33,000, 24 square miles of territory, named for a stonemason who came from Croatia to escape religious…More
You Are Now Entering Rimini
Watch out. It’s a city. Let’s call Rimini a big town. Population approximately 150,000. And it’s a tourist destination, mainly in the summer, because of the Adriatic and the long deep beach. In a departure from the backroads, we’re going into town to see the sights, maybe do a little shopping, and to have lunch.…More
On SP 44 (and going slow)
Today we drove SP 44, from Gabicce to Pesaro. That’s SP for Strada Provinciale, a seaside back road in the Marche. Driving from point A to point B, it’s 16 kilometers through Parco Naturale San Bartolo. No stoplights, no stop signs. Go slow. You take your time because this stretch of road, the locals call…More
Slow Travel
Since 1977, the year I married into an Italian family, I have traveled with my wife to Italy almost every year, in particular to San Marino, Romagna, and the Marche. Initially when we went, her cousins over there had the best greeting ever: “We’re going to take you to a great place for seafood.” Or…More
Falling Stars and Pizza
This morning the girl at the next table is having pizza for breakfast. I’m having cappuccino and a pastry, sitting at a bar on the lungomare in Pesaro. I look, then look again. It’s not just a pizza. It’s a pizza Rossini. You know it as soon as you see the mayonnaise and the slices…More
Get Going
This morning I went nowhere slow. Usually I go for a long bike ride, leaving the apartment around 5:30 a.m., riding down the coast on the bike lanes toward Fano. The sun will rise out of the Adriatic. If I’d never seen a sunrise before, I might stop and watch, take its picture. On a…More
I’ll Take It
I’ve never done this before. There’s a wine bar at Metro airport, Vino e Volo. Wine and Fly. It’s pricey. In the past I’ve given myself an expensive glass of airport beer. Today a pricey glass of a Spanish wine the producer describes as “brooding.” Just a second while I taste to confirm. Yes. I…More