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
Italy
A GALAXY UNTO ITSELF, L’ETOILE CONFOUNDS US
PARIS, FRANCE – Fasten your seat belts and unfasten the cap on the Valium bottle because we’re going to be starstruck, enclosed, embroiled, trapped in l’Etoile. It sounds like a swell place, l’Etoile (the Star), but beware. It’s a nice place to visit – in a tank or armored car – but you wouldn’t want to drive there. The guidebook says: “For motorists it is the ultimate … [Read more...] about A GALAXY UNTO ITSELF, L’ETOILE CONFOUNDS US
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