Italy

Count your nights by stars, not shadows.

Italian proverb

I was in Italy for a month, and it was an unforgettable few weeks.

I started out in the south, with my good friend Jimmy and a few other old friends-- we explored Rome, Capri, Pompeii, and Naples. From there I went off on my own to spend a week in a commune in Tuscany, then backpacked through Florence, Pisa, and Venice.

I will never get over the food.

I know everyone raves about the food in Italy, but there is a reason for it. Every meal was good enough to be a last meal. And the wine flowed like water (not to mention all the coffee).

Italy is already calling me back, and I'll have to return again soon.

I don't know if you could ever really get your fill of this place.

Read the stories

Rome By Night

Italy's reputation precedes it. And Italy did not disappoint. I had just gotten from the airport to Termini Station in Rome late at night when a random Italian man came striding up to me with a greeting of "Ciao bella!" and handed me a rose.

Southern Italy and the Perfect Pizza

I hadn't planned to go to Italy at all, and yet there I was, on a very early, slightly hungover sort of morning, boarding a train out of Rome with a strong coffee in one hand...

In Rome there was Pasta and Wine

When I think back to the time I spent in Rome I think of the food and the wine, and I think of the three guys I was traveling with.

A Commune in Tuscany

You know what I'd never done before? I'd never lived in a hippie commune. So while I was traveling on my own through northern Italy I decided it was high time I tried it out...

The Beauty of Florence

I was sitting on a bus after leaving the hippie commune, head foggy from wine, wondering where I was going and what I was going to do there.

Lost in Venice

My Florentine melancholy didn't last very long. I was sitting on the train to Venice and across the car was another girl, clearly a seasoned traveler.