The US has everything one could imagine in terms of natural beauty: mountains, rivers, deserts, forests, beaches, oceans, bays, cliffs, plains, lakes, islands, geysers, swamps, and moonscapes that rival the best to be found worldwide. That’s one of the reasons that so many Americans don’t travel outside the US. […]
levanto
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For those of you passionate about cycling or who are just interested in another aspect of Italian cultural/sporting phenomena, the Giro d’Italia is one of those can’t miss experiences. While less famous than the Tour de France, the Giro is nonetheless one of the top-tier events on the international cycling […]
This weekend we had a group of 23 high school students from Parma here in Levanto for an outdoor field trip in the Cinque Terre. We spend a lot of time promoting our field trips specifically because they get the kids outside and moving, which is good for everyone. This […]
Five months of flat, glassy, waveless, imperturbable sea. The World Longboard Surfing Championships in Levanto came and went without a ripple on the water, leaving competitors listless and bored. The Mediterranean looked like a pond. Now, as it always has been and always will be, it is reborn. And it’s […]
Because my last entry seemed so unbelievable to the American public, I thought I would follow it up with another little tidbit about health care in Italy. Though not of any relevance to those traveling in Italy, nevertheless, the way in which Italy deals with pre-existing medical conditions may still […]
Italians like to complain about the workings of their government and the quality of public services, and in many cases, there’s a lot to complain about … but not the health care. I have been in love with Italian health care from day 1 in Italy, and I’ve always been […]
When we moved into our current house, our landlady told us that among the wild critters running around, there were badgers in these here hills. I wasn’t buying it. Italy is not known for its wildlife, perhaps in large part for the fact that in the North, the quintessential wild animal, the […]
This week, we’re highlighting the “Upper Route” of the Cinque Terre, a spectacular trail that runs 17 miles from Portovenere to Levanto high above the villages of the Cinque Terre and the coastline below. And we got some help in promoting it with Seattle Backpacker’s Magazine. Rather than repeat myself […]
Somewhere in the pages of Kerouac’s great On the Road, (or maybe in one of the other works, sometimes all Kerouac runs together for me) as they are headed down the Western side of the Continental Divide somewhere in the Rockies, Jack and Neal decide to cut the engine on […]
I may have mentioned once or twice that the weather here in Liguria is, well, stupendous. (We’ll discount the anomalous 2 weeks of nippiness that froze our buns in our poorly-insulated house.) For someone who finds the weather an essential part of the quality of his daily life (just like […]