“Cinquecento, Cinquecento”, Tom Hanks says quickly and I start giggling. “I just like the sound of that,” he adds, “Salone del Cinquecento, that sounds so much better than the Hall of 500.” I am standing in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence interviewing Tom Hanks about his work on the film “Inferno” and he’s given my …
Alessandra di Castro is sitting on a plush, velvet couch in a curved, cozy recess in her Antiques Gallery at Number 4 Piazza di Spagna in Rome. She speaks rapidly in impeccable English declaring, “I have a very impatient personality.” I pause in my frenetic note taking and look at her and say, “so do …
Alessandra Di Castro – Rome’s Dynamic Antiques Dealer Read More »
Dear Blog Readers – After spending nearly a week in Sicily working on the migrant story this month, I had so much material for a blog post, but no energy left to write it, so this post will be brief. The AP team was working around the clock covering ships arriving in the port of …
In over 20 years working as a journalist, I don’t think I’ve ever covered a story where one word counted so much. Genocide. Prior to Pope Francis’ Mass on April 12th to mark the 100th anniversary of the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks, we debated the question all week. Will Pope Francis use the …
“It’s an Exodus” sighed Sargeant Marco DiMilla who works in the press office for the Italian Coast Guard when I called him frantically Wednesday morning trying to figure out which ports the Coast Guard ships would be landing at in Sicily and disembarking migrants rescued at sea. He reeled off some numbers and places as …
This whole question of the sexy, brilliant, bald guys popped up the other day because my colleague Paolo Santalucia and I were trying to get out of an assignment. It was Friday afternoon in the office and Paolo called across from his desk to me and said, “Hey Trisha, I’ve got the perfect assignment for …
Dear Blog Readers, Just a quick follow up to the “Tired Pope Post” yesterday. Last night I covered the Via Crucis at the Colosseum. As I mentioned yesterday, it is one of my favorite events on the Vatican calendar because of the intermingling of the violent history of the Colosseum with gladiators battling to the …
Darkness, Despair and Light at the Via Crucis in Rome Read More »
Dear Blog Readers – Pope Francis is neck deep in Easter Week celebrations and I have the distinct feeling he is tired. He said it himself Thursday morning in the Chrism Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica. The Chrism Mass is the annual Mass held on the morning of Holy Thursday during which the Pope blesses …