Well, I really should title this: “We're finishing that novel!” For those readers who know me well, you’re probably thinking, “Finally!” Many years ago I started collaborating on a novel with my mother (that's the we!), who had a beautiful idea for a story set on the Amalfi Coast come to her one ...
A Glimpse of My Scala in Italia! Magazine
While travel and most everything has been on hold this spring, the April 2020 issue of Italia! Magazine featured an article I wrote called 48 Hours in Scala. For those of you following Ciao Amalfi for some time now, you'll know that I've spent a lot more than 48 hours in Scala. About 12 years ...
Check Out My Favorite Capri Walks in Dream of Italy!
It's been a quiet summer around here on Ciao Amalfi, but it certainly hasn't been a quiet time. Summer is always a busy period, but this year seems especially hectic ... and hot! We've had a heat wave on the Amalfi Coast, making usually hot August even stickier than normal. But I've had a lot of fun ...
The Amalfi Coast in Perillo Traveler Magazine
The last few months have been a bit of a whirlwind, but in many good ways. In the middle of multiple writing projects, the end result can sometimes seem so far away. But when the final product arrives, all the extra work is worthwhile. It was a joy to get the Winter 2016 issue of Perillo Traveler ...
The Amalfi Coast: Walking Through History One Step at a Time
This summer I had the pleasure to write about one of my favorite pastimes on the Amalfi Coast -- walking and exploring the ancient pathways and hiking trails -- for the NIAF Ambassador magazine. This is this quarterly magazine for the National Italian American Foundation, which is a wonderful ...
Foto Friday: Instructions for Living a Life
There are so many ways that the poet Mary Oliver has captured beautiful moments of life in her work, but this excerpt from her poem "Sometimes" is perhaps my favorite. It has that slap you in the face simplicity and speaks a truth that really resonates with me. So few people pay attention to what ...
September Sunrise
The sunrise this morning, the first day of September, was warm and soft. The start of a new month on the calendar can mean so little and so much. One day to the next, no big deal, right? But there's something special for me about the beginning of September. While mindfulness and enjoying the present ...
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall
I've been stuck lately working on a chapter in the novel. I know, it happens to writers all the time. The writing rarely flows continuously without a hiccup here or there to slow things down. Like the washboard surfaces on the dirt roads that were so much fun to ride my bike over when I was kid, I ...
A Change of Seasons
Over the past week and Easter weekend, the weather has changed from spring to winter and back to spring again on the Amalfi Coast. After a rainy and cold Saturday, the sun peeked out for a little bit on Easter Sunday before another storm came through in the evening. I popped my head outside the ...
The Traveling Writer
I wrapped my scarf around my neck an extra time against the cold wind as we crossed the Pont d'Arcole toward the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. The weather in Paris had been mild compared to our previous January visits, but along the Seine I could feel that the temperature had dropped according to the ...
A Writing Life
Not long ago, I changed the tagline of Ciao Amalfi from "Savoring Daily Life on Italy's Amalfi Coast" to "A Writing Life on Italy's Amalfi Coast." This small change reflects a significant shift within myself, one that has been happening so gradually over the past four and half years that I had ...
A Summer Morning in Atrani
A beautiful Saturday morning and I needed a few photos for an article I was writing on the town of Atrani on the Amalfi Coast. There was only one thing to do ... a photo outing! It was a peaceful morning, and I saw only a few people while I wandered through town taking photos. Head over to Charming ...