Life returning to normal on Giglio Island after Costa Concordia

GIGLIO ISLAND, Italy — My ferry was full of school groups, delivery trucks and tourists when we left the Tuscan port of Santo...

Finding inspiration in a Renaissance painter's Italian hometown

SANSEPOLCRO, Italy — Sansepolcro, in the far northeast corner of Tuscany, can't match Florence and Siena for culture. It isn't even on...

Getting the timing right for Capri, Italy

"Don't go there," a well-traveled friend said when I mentioned my plans to visit Capri, a sunny island off southern Italy. Why? "You're...

In an Italian kitchen, Mamma knows best

"Mamma says don't punch it," Carlo Montioni says, translating for his mother in heavily accented English.

Olive harvesting in Umbria, Italy, drips with tradition

The anonymous stone building on the outskirts of Civitella, my Umbrian hilltop village, was a mystery to me. Every time I drove past, it was...

Go ahead and indulge — it's Taormina, Italy

I am sitting on the balcony of the Grand Hotel Timeo eating almond-flavored granita (a kind of Italian sherbet) for breakfast and thinking...

Secrets of Rome revealed

After living in Rome for almost three years, I moved back to the U.S. at the beginning of the summer. I packed up my apartment, gave my...

Naples' Baroque glory

Naples, Italy — The ticket taker on the train from Rome had to shout to get my attention. I was staring out the window, iPod cranked...

Where to go for pizza in Naples

If you've never had pizza in Naples, you've never had pizza.

North of Sicily, Salina erupts with calm beauty

I can stop looking now. I've found my dream island.

Antique-hunting in Arezzo, Italy

Prayerful angels carved from oak, grinning terra-cotta cherubs and gold pocket watches with time on their hands. All are stacked on the...

Western Sicily, where centuries and cultures converge

A cracked concrete road spirals up to a lookout over Salemi in western Sicily, passing flimsy-looking apartment houses, weed-choked fields,...

Sicilian pastry shop: Sweet meets holy in Erice

The glass case at Maria Grammatico's Pasticceria del Convento in the hilltop town of Erice displays treasures worthy of a Swiss bank.

At Latte Piu, a Roman milk bar, the drinks are as intoxicating as the surroundings

Mussolini's legacy in modern Rome

Italy's Campania region is where fresh mozzarella roams

Roaming Rome, in a martini mood