Dear Blog Readers — By now most of you probably know about the attack last Friday in Afghanistan on two women working for the Associated Press, killing Pulitizer-Prize winning photographer Anja Niedringhaus and seriously wounding veteran correspondent Kathy Gannon. It has taken me a few days to want to write a post and even now […]
Anja and Kathy – AP’s Two Heroines Read More »
“I think she is going to be wearing baby blue,” said AP Television cameraman Gianfranco Stara said to me as he stood at the door of Piazza Grazioli 5 outside the AP offices in Rome waiting for a taxi to arrive. He was heading to Rome’s Quirinale Palace to cover yesterday’s visit of Queen Elizabeth
Dear Blog Readers — I was sitting at on the grass at the park yesterday in Rome, enjoying a gorgeous spring afternoon between the small white daisies popping up around me and the giant Roman pines looming overhead. My daughter was playing nearby with our dog and I was flipping through some magazines when I
President Obama in Rome Read More »
Today — one year after he was elected Pope — Pope Francis is on a spiritual retreat with bishops and cardinals. Showing his usual simplicity he took the bus and sat in the middle of the pack. One year ago on March 13, 2013, I stood with AP Television cameraman Paolo Lucariello near the obelisk
One Year Following Pope Francis Read More »
It has been a whirlwind week in Rome and at the Vatican. On one side of the Tiber River a Prime Minister was abruptly shoved out off office and another one stepped in, Italy now has its youngest Prime Minister ever, 39 year-old Matteo Renzi. Renzi’s cabinet is also strikingly young and of the total
A Whirlwind Week in Rome and at the Vatican Read More »
I am back on the tiny island of Giglio for the second anniversary of the Costa Concordia shipwreck. The gigantic rusting carcass still sits near the entrance to the port, but now it has been straightened up in a dramatic 19 hour operation last September called parbuckling. For those who have not yet heard about
Bitterness, Tears, and Scars on the Island of Giglio Read More »
There are stories that we cover year after year in Italy, and one is the lighting of the Vatican Christmas tree, and although it doesn’t involve much journalistic skill, I enjoy doing it because it puts me in the Christmas spirit. The lighting ceremony was this past Friday and here are a few of my
The Vatican Christmas Tree Read More »
Dear Blog Readers, While we are all waiting to hear who Time Magazine’s Person of the Year 2013 is, I thought I would share with you Mozzarella Mamma’s choice: Pope Francis –Mozzarella Mamma’s Person of the Year 2013 Ok, I admit I am biased because I had a front row seat at his election, I’ve
Pope Francis — MM’s Person of the Year 2013 Read More »