The Italian South

22/09/2024

Guess where we are today.

18/08/2024

I have been watching Stanley Tucci's Searching for Italy (I know, I'm late to the game) and was delighted to discover that his roots in Calabria, in the town of Marzi, are very close to my own. Scigliano is about 30 minutes away by car, and my mom and I actually visited Marzi when we were in Scigliano in 2004!

07/08/2024

Temperatures in the 90s and 100s are prompting extreme heat warnings in Italy this week. While much of the southern peninsula has high temps in the lower 90s, some of the northern and inland cities are even higher, such as Florence, with forecasts over 100 degrees. And hotter weather is expected in the south too.

Forecasters on Tuesday said the upcoming weekend was expected to be the “hottest of the year” in Italy, with highs of 40C in the north and 43C in the south.

08/04/2024

This doesn't even look real, but it's all over the news--yesterday Mount Etna blew smoke rings. A strange volcanic phenomenon!

Mount Etna in Sicily, the largest active volcano in Europe, has been blowing spectacular “smoke rings” into the sky since Wednesday.

02/04/2024

I'm always looking for books about or set in Italy. In fact, right now I'm reading a novel called Our Italian Summer. So I thought this article looked interesting. QUESTION: What one book about or set in Italy would you recommend to someone planning to visit or move to Italy?

If you’re planning on upping sticks and moving to Italy, there are some reads that can help you get a useful insight into the nuances of life in the country. Please tell us your own recommendations.

15/03/2024

I'm practicing Italian, preparing for a trip in a few weeks. Challenges: where to place "anche", "di solito", and "nuovo" in various sentence constructions. They seem to move around, depending...

21/02/2024

Giant sinkhole in Naples--glad it wasn't me falling in there!

12/02/2024

How about a novel set in southern Italy? The Islands Call by Sandy Frykholm (that's me) is a time travel adventure set in modern day Seattle and the medieval Amalfi Coast. This Valentine's Day treat is on sale this week for Kindle in the U.S. 99 cents through 2/14, and $1.99 2/15-17. https://www.amazon.com/Islands-Call-Time-Travel-Adventure-ebook/dp/B0BSGCWKH5