Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Reflections”
Who doesn’t love Italian food? We savor both the wonderful flavors and the healthy-choice benefits of the Mediterranean diet. For many, it’s associated with memories of good times and the savoring of dishes in a convivial atmosphere amongst family and friends. It’s a win-win. Recently, UNESCO honored the cuisine by recognizing its importance for the world’s cultural heritage. While Italian …
Christmas is that magical time of year when happiness twinkles all around us. Pretty decorations, special foods, gifts, gatherings with family and friends, we pull out all the stops to awaken that joy of the holidays. The general jubilation can also have the opposite effect on those not in step with the season, because as I realized early on, you …
“Italy is only a geographical expression” has been bandied about for almost two centuries. The phrase has that smack of the in-the-know Italophile with an intellectual bent. One day, as I was looking for a park bench on a sunny afternoon in Crotone, Calabria, I was confronted with a Calabrian take on the idea, that of Leonida Rèpaci. His thoughts …
It seems like a lifetime, yet it’s been just ten years since I published Calabria: The Other Italy. My intention was to shine a light on an area that seemed to have been left in the dark – the tree that fell in the forest with no one around to hear it. I found that there was an audience out …
When I sat down to write my first blogpost 10 years ago, I wasn’t even sure what a blog was. I knew I had visited blogs on occasion, searching google for various topics, but I would have had to stretch my mind to picture someone on the other side of the earth doing the same thing and ending up on …
A few short years ago, we thought we might never travel again. Now, “over-tourism” is the catch phrase of the day. And while media outlets continue to promote the same popular destinations, they line up to voice passionate concerns over the resulting difficulties of said “must-see” locations. The alternative to mass tourism comes with its own buzzwords, such as “sustainable …
Cool, crisp mountain air – make sure to breathe deeply when you visit Calabria, as the region has the cleanest air in Europe! All of the mountains contribute to this freshness with three major ranges: the Pollino in the north, the Sila in the center and the Aspromonte in the south. As a matter of fact, the Sila Mountains, a …
I grew up hanging laundry in the backyard. We had a dryer in the basement, but my mother said there was nothing like the smell of fresh air in your sheets. I haven’t ever seen tourists taking pictures of wash in the United States, on that rare glimpse of swaying fabric in a summer breeze. Laundry in Italy, however, seems …
Vacations are meant to be a special time, a breath of fresh air, whether for total relaxation, leisure travel, energetic activity or a combination thereof. With whom should you travel and where should you go? And just what would it be like to join a small-group tour in Southern Italy?
Many of my readers and followers have roots in Calabria – Calabrian-Americans, Calabrian-Canadians, Calabrian-Australians, Calabrian-South Americans, Calabrians living in other regions of Italy and throughout Europe, and then there are just plain Calabrians. In Italian, that would be calabresi-americani, calabresi-canadesi, calabresi-australiani, etc. Many have visited the more famous spots of Italy and a few have visited Calabria, often just one …