AWAY TO ITALY
Weekly stories, travel tips, and planning tools to help you experience Italy more authentically—plus a special 7-day welcome series to help you start planning with clarity and confidence.
🇮🇹 They said Palermo. I asked why.
They knew they wanted Sicily. Palermo, maybe. Catania. The usual names that show up when you start Googling "where to stay in Sicily." But when I asked why—why those cities, what drew them there—they paused. "We just… heard they were beautiful?" So here's what I did. I asked them what they actually wanted to experience, and they wanted to feel. Not see. Not check off. They wanted slow. Relaxed. Food-focused. Culturally immersive. A balance between incredible experiences and days where they...
🇮🇹 The afternoon a stranger cried in Lucca
Why would a grown woman cry in the middle of a piazza? Not from pain. Not from fear. From beauty. A couple of months ago, in Lucca, I stumbled onto an impromptu open air opera performance in a piazza. No stage. No tickets. Just a handful of singers who opened their lungs to the afternoon air. And right next to me — this woman. Maybe sixty. Maybe seventy. Standing so still, eyes wide. And then the tears came. She didn’t look embarrassed. Didn’t wipe them away. She let them fall. Because...
🇮🇹 You don't need 1,000 photos to remember Italy
I don't take tons of photos when I travel in Italy. I used to. Camera roll full of the same shot taken twelve different ways. Trying to capture everything. Worried I'd forget. But here's what I learned after 30+ years: The best memories aren't in the camera roll. They're in the details I took time to notice—and the small ways I recorded them. Let me show you what that looks like. Photograph the details, not the landmarks. The door knocker. The hand-painted tile. The espresso cup. The way the...
🇮🇹 "We Should Go To Italy Together!"
It starts in the group chat. Someone says, "We should go to Italy together!" Everyone's excited. Hearts and fire emojis.❤️🔥 "Yes!" "Finally!" "Let's do it!" Then... silence. Because someone has to actually plan it. Someone has to research the regions. Compare the hotels. Figure out if six people can fit in one car or if you need two. Find restaurants that take reservations for groups. Coordinate everyone's opinions—and everyone has opinions. That someone? It's always one person. Usually the...
🇮🇹 Why are you going to Italy?
She'd been researching for six months. Pinterest boards. Saved Instagram posts. Browser tabs that wouldn't close. And then she said something I hear all the time: "I just don't know where to start. And I'm terrified of getting it wrong." So I asked her a question I ask every client: Why are you going to Italy? Not where. Why. She paused. Thought about it. And then she said: "I'm burned out. I just need to breathe." That's when I knew exactly what to design for her. I've been asking this...
🇮🇹 Amalfi Coast or Puglia?
She wanted the Italian coast. But she didn't want the crowds. She wanted authentic food culture—family-run trattorias, fresh seafood, recipes passed down through generations. But she didn't want to eat at restaurants designed for tourists. She wanted turquoise water and whitewashed villages and that particular quality of light you only get on the Italian coast. But she wanted to feel like she'd discovered something. Not like she was following everyone else's itinerary. And she was going in...
🇮🇹 Your family's Italian village is waiting
The next time your Italian family gathers, someone will tell the story. You know the one. The town name that's been passed down for generations. The place your great-grandparents left behind. The village someone mentions at every reunion, every holiday, every time the family comes together. Someone will say, "We should go there someday." And everyone will nod. And the conversation will move on. But what if someday was this upcoming year? The village is still there. The church is still there....
🇮🇹 It started in an alley in Orvieto
I want to tell you about a man named Geppetto. Not the Disney one. A real one. I was 20 years old, spending a semester in Rome, and a group of us took a day trip to a town called Orvieto—this stunning hilltop city in Umbria, about an hour north of Rome. We were wandering. No agenda. No itinerary. Just walking down side streets because that's what you do when you're 20 and everything feels like an adventure. And then I heard it. This... tapping. Rhythmic. Coming from somewhere below street...
💸 How To Set A Budget For Your Italy Trip
"The best trips start with a well-planned budget." Ciao Reader, Many of you have recently asked about the cost of an off-the-beaten-path trip to Italy. So, I decided to make that the focus of this week's email. 💸 The most important step in your traveling planning is to set a budget. You want your trip to be stress-free and that comes with designing a trip you can afford. Let your budget guide your travel plans every step of the way. Here are two different budget ranges for the average 1-week...
🚊 My Italian Train Mishap (and How to Avoid Yours!)
"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving at a fixed destination." — Lao Tzu Ciao Reader, I’ve been thinking about you ever since my stressful train journey last weekend! 🚊While train travel in Italy lets you soak up the scenery and local life, bumps can happen. Last weekend, my husband and I were off to visit family in Genoa for the day. There are no direct trains between Lucca and Genoa, so we’d be switching trains once along the way. The first connection was fine,...
Weekly stories, travel tips, and planning tools to help you experience Italy more authentically—plus a special 7-day welcome series to help you start planning with clarity and confidence.