Travel dispatches from Italy

Seattle Times Travel editor Terry Tazioli spent the month of August on his annual quest for good food, good wine, good friends and a new Italian verb form or two.

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Back with the cranky cashiers and the street life [Aug. 3, 2007]
I spent most of my first day in Rome buying tickets for trains and buses; stopping by the language school where I've studied Italian every year for a while to pay my bill in advance for this summer's lessons (it makes me study harder knowing how much I've already spent); popping in to see ... More

Street life and cheap eats in the Eternal City [Aug. 5, 2007]
I believe I struck a blow for international cooperation over the weekend. I walked in front of a Rome bookstore where the proprietors were trying to tape the English title of the book "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" (each word on its own sheet of paper) on the front window of their shop ... More

Just hop on a bus and roam Rome [Aug. 7, 2007]
Like many cities in the U.S. and around the world, Rome has tour buses that let you buy a ticket for the day, then hop on and off as much as you'd like, leaving you time to explore a place spotted from your rolling perch. It's a cool idea. ... More

Easy riding on a train to Tuscany [Aug. 10, 2007]
I took the train north from Rome this week to spend a little time in some hillside villages in southern Tuscany. . I would enjoy having the freedom of a car here, to do the remote villages and countryside justice. But I truly enjoy the chance to sit on a train and watch the landscape, with little effort on my part beyond trying to stay awake. ... More

In a Tuscan village, an old man enchants [Aug. 11, 2007]
Aimo Granai is 83 years old and lives alone in Montisi, a small hilltop village in the hills of Tuscany. The day my friends and I met him, he was sitting on the steps of his apartment, chatting with the occasional passerby. (I will not say that he was under the Tuscan sun, just that it was a lovely, sunny day.) ... More

A joust of joy in an ancient Italian hill town [Aug. 12, 2007]
Montisi, in Tuscany between Rome and Florence, is one of countless hilltop villages all over Italy. They have centuries-old roots and families that have lived in them for that long. Others are becoming new homelands for expatriates. ... More

A holiday brings blessed quiet to streets of Rome [Aug. 15, 2007]
It's late at night here and I was just hanging out a window in the apartment watching about 40 guys march by in the street below, all with matching T-shirts, singing at the tops of their lungs. I have no idea who they were. They were pretty good, certainly on key. They threw in some rhythmic claps and chants, to add some spice. ... More

Get thee to a language school. It's worth it [Aug. 16, 2007]
Lest you think I while away my days in Rome consulting an ancient muse or two, lounging on a couch sampling wines, or shoe shopping -- I don't. I go to school, to Italiaidea, a private language school near the city's famed Spanish Steps. ... More

Making merry and making music in this eternal city [Aug. 19, 2007]
It is very, very quiet in Rome. Today -- Aug. 15 -- is the Ferragosto holiday, celebrating one of the holy days of the Roman Catholic Church -- the feast of the Assumption, when Catholics believe the Virgin Mary, Christ's mother, was taken, body and soul, to heaven. ... More

The real life of Roman summer nights [Aug. 23, 2007]
To be able to spend an evening like this is why I travel. Three of us sat for a long time at a makeshift bar along the Tiber River that runs through Rome, talking. We'd been out walking earlier through Trastevere (one of Rome's original working-class neighborhoods) with a teacher from the Italian-language school we a ... More

Life lessons on a guided Rome walk [Aug. 24, 2007]
We all need a Michael Brouse in our lives. Michael is an American living in Rome; he teaches and is an administrator at St. Stephen's in Rome, an international high school; he's a published author and a guide, although to use that word in reference to him seems so much an understatement. ... More

The heat of the day -- and night [Aug. 27, 2007]
Rome has been scorching -- 102 degrees on the weekend. I'm no fool. Part of the weekend I spent lying on the tile floor of the apartment, two fans aimed directly at my body. You think I'd go out in that heat? OK, so I did. ... More

Arrivederci Roma: It's time to say goodbye [Aug. 27, 2007]
Time to wrap up this Rome adventure. It's been lots of fun. But it's time to get back to the U.S. and back to work after a month of exploring and studying Italian in the city. I'm bringing lots of memories with me and a promise to myself to return as much as I can. ... More