LIGHT MODE
DARK MODE
A month after I had settled into my new apartment, my ex-landlady called. She had just received a notice in the mail from the garbage collectors. They had neglected to bill our neighborhood for three years and now that they'd finally gotten around to it, I was expected
Some jobs pay the rent, some don’t. Some make you want to wear your walking shoes, some make you want to hide under the bed alongside your slippers. I’m sure ...
In Italy, want-ad newspapers have a dual function. They keep you abreast of all the jobs that have recently become available throughout the territory. They also spur you to not take yourself too seriously. Venice's paper is called Il Boom. The name suggests that although you are unemployed,
Getting married is complicated enough. She needs her wedding dress to be simple. So, Carlotta marched into the bridal boutique and quickly informed the saleslady of all of her semi-neurotic stylistic limitations. Nothing too sparkly, lacy, shiny or puffy. She was not a collegiate debutant, Greek opera singer, French
It happens often. I get a song stuck in my head and it clings to my brainwaves as if they were the only source of energy in the world. The other day, I found myself singing the theme song from Roberto Benigni's La tigre e la neve, a film
My two-hour-a-week job at a Venetian nursery school was, strangely enough, Berlusconi's idea. In order to conquer the ills plaguing Italy, the then prime minister proposed the Three I' Initiative: Imprese, Internet and Inglese. A focus on enterprise, web technology and English from toddler-age up
Last September I took a job in Venice selling jewelry behind the cityys only piazza. If you ever need quick employment and mindless labor, know that a cubicle full of hanging necklaces will provide you with both. During the job interview, I took the advice of my 80-year old
If you’ve just arrived in Italy and are kicking for a little avventura italiana, you’re probably still feeling excited and optimistic. Most likely you’re convinced that if you ever decided to stay long term, you’d never get homesick enough to miss something
In 1998, I was hired to teach English at the military barracks in the province of Mantova. The course was funded by the European community so that all the draft ...
Nell'amicizia, Italians do not necessarily aim for understanding. The simply see, know and feel. And while this type of soul-searching needs no consent, real trust might not apear for years. People phone the pressroom with various questions. Some depend on the season. In autumn, they call wondering where
In a country where food must always be served at the right time and temperature, I find Sunday brunch the easiest way to entertain. I say this for two simple reasons. First, I am a morning person who makes a mean pancake. Second, the prospect of serving pasta to al
‘Arrangiarsi or the ability to ‘arrange oneself’ is all about overcoming obstacles. Italians love to jump fences, and they do it with an agile grace that people from Anglo-cultures can ...
Watch how people share secrets and you’ll discover the things they are trying to hide. Learn how a country exchanges confidences and you’ll uncover the cornerstone of social rapport. Italians may be known to the world as free-speaking, overly expressive individuals, but in
It was only the third day of the New Year and I had already decided that I was not going to write a single word until the end of the next century. When I am struck by that particular form of self-pity known as ‘writer’s block,&
It was an eerily sunny day in December and my friend Silvia and I were weaving our way to the park with the greenhouse. Her daughter Sofia had a play-date and we were, of course, late. As we dragged the poor child by the cuff through the whizzing traffic
Today I’m waging a silent war against a blank page and an enemy expression that has yet to reveal itself. It is Saturday and, gratefully, the office is quiet. Most of the theatre troupe that makes this newspaper have all trooped home to their weekend stage-plays. The
I have just spent the entire afternoon dumping the contents of my drawers into cardboard boxes. I found them crushed on aisle seven at the Coop this morning and spent the better part of an hour trying to tape them into squares again. Now that the boxes are almost full,
During my Venetian years, I lived in a crumbling, 16th-century apartment whose best ‘room’ was the terrace on the top floor. I was up there one afternoon mopping— something I did on rare occasions for the sole purpose of keeping my neighbour lady happy. She and
