Take 20 leaders of the nations with the world’s biggest economies, bring them to a beautiful, chaotic city with cobblestone streets and ancient ruins, add in delegations with a sprinkling of foreign and finance ministers, spouses, and a few children. Toss in a Queen and a Prince and some heads of UN organizations, throw in […]
Last week my daughter donned a laurel wreath with a violet ribbon running through it and grinned from ear to ear as her friends chanted “Dott-O-Ray, Dott-O- Ray” – followed by some silly, lewd phrases that are not repeatable. It is all part of the university graduation tradition in Italy. To graduate from an Italian
This past week, I went on a wild boar hunt. Not the kind that one might imagine in Italy, tromping through the Tuscan forest carrying a rifle. No, this hunt was in the city of Rome, armed with cameras. We were working on a story on the invasion of wild boars in the city.
Dear Blog Readers, After a hiatus of over a year, I am back, more or less. The last post I wrote was on March 3rd, 2020, shortly before Italy went into a national lockdown on March 9th. It is strange to look back at those photos in the last post, Rome in the Time of
The cobblestone streets in the center of Rome – usually teeming with tourists – are empty. At the Colosseum a woman with a big white sanitary mask on her face poses for a selfie. In St. Peter’s Square a young couple walk past in black face masks, a guidebook in hand. At the Trevi Fountain
Rome in the Time of Coronavirus Read More »
Two teenage girls squat on the ground at the sprawling Antananarivo garbage dump sorting detritus. Around them hills of garbage spread in all directions, little trails winding through the mounds like a golf course gone rotten. Instead of golf carts making their way down the fairways, there are trucks, 14 of them come every day rumbling their
Madagascar: Magnificent and Impoverished Read More »
Dear Blog Readers, If you are thinking of coming to Italy, forget “Under the Tuscan Sun” and lounging around olive groves sipping white wine, eating pasta and dipping your bread in fragrant olive oil. That’s for namby-pambies. It is time to get yourself a few goose bumps and an adrenalin high UNDER the Marmore Falls.
Running the Marmore Rapids Read More »
Last weekend I took a trip to the Amalfi coast with some friends and, at the suggestion of a colleague from the foreign press association, we decided to try and find Salvatore Aceto and his lemon farm. After landing in the port of Amalfi, teeming with tourists dragging trolleys and buying trinkets, we pushed past
It’s Raining Lemons… Read More »