This morning, the first when both my girls went to school, and therefore the first morning in five years that my wife and I did not have children at our heels, I stopped at the Barolino Café in downtown Levanto for a cappuccino while my wife handled other affairs. The […]
Life
19 posts
I have to admit that the reality of closing in on age 40, combined with the fact of having two daughters under age 5, makes it very unlikely that I will take advantage of the following event in Levanto, but that doesn’t mean that y’all shouldn’t get out there and […]
My wife was out at the market today – which is held every Wednesday morning in Levanto, if you are interested – and bumped into some friendly real estate agents that we know. Having not seen them in a while, they chit-chatted about this and that, commenting on the never-ending […]
Despite all of the stereotypes and legends, the truth is that American tourists are usually no better nor no worse than any other group of tourists. What they may lack in terms of linguistic capabilities (which is much in comparison to tourists from any other country), is often made up […]
Popular legend says that Liguria has an unusually high number of nonagenarians running around. While I have never seen any statistics about this fact, casual observation seems to bear it out. Any number of the people I know in Levanto, be they friends or acquaintances, have grandfathers, grandmothers, or great-grandparents […]
Sifting through my old LPs during the Christmas vacation at my parents’ house, I ran across the LIVE 1975-85 box set of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. I’ll admit that back in 1985, at age 12, I listened to the albums some, but not very much. Aside from […]
My wife is researching the barefoot movement for an article, and all this talk of bare feet brought to mind a comment that I friend of mine here in Levanto made. Talking with one of the older, wiser women from the area, she told him how when she was a […]
Though I have lived in Italy for over 11 years, I have never stopped to really ask myself what this holiday Ferragosto is all about. For those of you who don’t know, Ferragosto, which falls on the 15th of August, is a national Italian holiday on which it is canonical to […]
Here in Italy during the Olympics, between one Italian exploit and the next (the Italians have been particularly strong in events involving arms, including shotguns, rifles, sabers, foils, fists, and kicks – all quite strange for such a non-aggressive nation) Apple and Samsung have been running an intense race themselves, […]
I have already written about the joys and art of bottling your own wine in Italy. While it is undoubtedly a fulfilling and economically-sustainable practice (read: cheap), it is not without its pitfalls. Another one happened toady, inspiring me to give you a list of my most famous misadventures. In […]