ROME – Walked up a hill to see the most famous – and most infamous – of all tennis players. That would be the great painter Caravaggio, of course. Oh, I know he’s been dead for 400 years, but you never know who you’ll run into while wandering along Rome’s skinny cobblestone streets. Caravaggio, whose straight name was Michelangelo Mensi, is hanging out on the museum walls … [Read more...] about A VISIT WITH CARAVAGGIO, THE PAINTER AND TENNIS PLAYER –- RUN OUT OF ROME AS A POOR SPORT
Italy
THERE’S A SMALL HOTEL — RODGERS AND HART WOULD HAVE LOVED THIS MOUNTAIN-KISSED REFUGE IN THE ITALIAN ALPS, PLUS THE FOOD
COGNE, Italy – It’s a hideaway that makes you recall the longingly romantic lyric: “There’s a small hotel, with a wishing well. I wish…we were there together.” We have the bygone American songsmiths, Richard Rodgers and Lorenze Hart, to thank for that gem. And we have the Jeantet-Roullet family to thank for 81 years stewardship of their inimitable small hotel in the Cogne … [Read more...] about THERE’S A SMALL HOTEL — RODGERS AND HART WOULD HAVE LOVED THIS MOUNTAIN-KISSED REFUGE IN THE ITALIAN ALPS, PLUS THE FOOD
VISITING BENEDICT’S BASEMENT; A FASCINATING MONASTERY ON A RUGGED ITALIAN MOUNTAINSIDE
SUBIACO, Italy – If the guy had stayed underground, well . . .. “Well,” says Brother John with a chuckle, “if he had, I wonder where . . . where, indeed, would we be now?” Tall and good-humored, a gray-haired man in a long black robe, Brother John O’Shannassy, a Benedictine monk from Australia, has lived in this monastery called Santuario Sacro Speco (Sanctuary … [Read more...] about VISITING BENEDICT’S BASEMENT; A FASCINATING MONASTERY ON A RUGGED ITALIAN MOUNTAINSIDE
A HOLY STAIRWAY THAT’S TOUGH ON THE KNEES AND THAT’S JUST THE START IN GAINING A PILGRIM’S GRAND SLAM DURING ROME’S JUBILEE YEAR
ROME- Amid a black cloud of habited nuns, all of us playing kneesies with a rising series of walnut planks, I wonder if a cluster of orthopedic surgeons will be at the top, offering a Jubilee Year discount on arthroscopic carving. “It will be good for your soul,” Brother Marcelo, a Benedictine monk in Boston, had promised, hyping the spiritual joy of climbing the … [Read more...] about A HOLY STAIRWAY THAT’S TOUGH ON THE KNEES AND THAT’S JUST THE START IN GAINING A PILGRIM’S GRAND SLAM DURING ROME’S JUBILEE YEAR
SCANNO, ITALY: A DIZZYING DELIGHT AT 3,500 FEET
SCANNO, ITALY – The village is a cliffhanger, all right, long in the tooth and stuck against a molar in the snow belt of Abruzzo. Scanno poses an adventure in walking tilting, cobbled streets, wondering if you’ll get out of town the fastest way – falling head over heels into the lovely Sagittario River valley 3,500 feet below. Well, maybe that’s a slight … [Read more...] about SCANNO, ITALY: A DIZZYING DELIGHT AT 3,500 FEET