Dispatches from Italy
I came to Italy to heal. Now I'm ready to share good news.
Eight years ago, I absconded to Italy, a country I have loved since my first visit almost 40 years ago. I left New York three weeks after the memorial for my 14-year-old child. I had no idea if it would be for a month, or a year, or forever. I’m still here, rebuilding a life in Rome, where I have a small fairy tale apartment in a 16th-century palazzo, and in a nearby town where my house looks out over Lake Bracciano. It is the most healing place I can imagine.
I’m now writing a memoir—a story of how Italy has saved me with its wonderful blend of warmth, beauty, humor, and colorful human interaction. I have wonderful friends, both expat and Italian, and am trying to live a life of improvisation, in which I don’t know what’s coming down the line, but I’m ready to say “Yes, and…”
Which brings me to writing for an Italian e-magazine of nonprofit, independent constructive journalism called B-hop. “B” stands for beauty, they say, and at the same time evokes the English verb “to be.” Basically, it publishes stories of good news. As a former journalist and multimedia storytelling professional, finding and writing such stories is natural for me. More importantly, it’s my version of a gratitude mantra, or forcing oneself to smile and finding that it really does makes you feel better!
This Substack will include English versions of the good news stories I find and write in Italy. I hope you’ll join me for the journey.