X MAS: The Right-Wing Politics of Rome

Raffaella Duelli Incredible, but true.  On consecutive days in June, Rome's mayor, Gianni Alemanno, participated in a ceremony honoring ...

A Farewell to Arms, and Hemingway's Thoughts on Rome

Shall we stay up tonight and read, dear? Yes, let's do that. We'll do it then.  It's a wonderful idea.  We'll have a great t...

Tutti Al Mare, or Why Don't Italians Love their Mountains More?

 "I am a Med man," he wrote.   Tutti al mare!  Everyone to the sea!  It's a commonplace that Italians--Romans, anyway--l...

Genzano: Bread, Flowers and War

Genzano is one of several delightful hill towns along the via Appia, on the western edge of the Alban Hills ( Colli Albani).   On one side o...

The Secret Sketches of Pio Pullini

We're fresh from an artistic rush, this one provided by Pio Pullini's lovely and poignant watercolors, now on display (until 3 Septe...

Bella Ciao: The Kids Are All Right

Frederika Randall returns as guest blogger with this post, that begins with a curious but telling incident at a Rome public school. Randall ...

Rome Noir

Although Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled detective novels are mostly set in the desert basin of Los Angeles, we think he would appreciat...

Cupa Fregene

At dinner Tuesday night, when we told our close friends that we had spent Sunday at the beach town of Fregene, they were incredulous. How, t...