Michelle Damiani
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Michelle Damiani
  • Buy my books/
  • Blog/
  • Travel/
    • Spello
    • Visiting Umbria
    • Travel in Italy
    • Around the World
  • What I Love/
    • Gabe's Blog
    • Food and Drink
    • Books and Movies
    • Italian Cats and Hidden Madonnas
  • Coaching/
  • About/
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Michelle Damiani

writing with Italy at heart

Around the World

Michelle Damiani
  • Buy my books/
  • Blog/
  • Travel/
    • Spello
    • Visiting Umbria
    • Travel in Italy
    • Around the World
  • What I Love/
    • Gabe's Blog
    • Food and Drink
    • Books and Movies
    • Italian Cats and Hidden Madonnas
  • Coaching/
  • About/
July 17, 2023

I've never been any place like Bilbao

July 17, 2023/ Michelle Damiani
I've never been any place like Bilbao

Well, my socks are officially knocked off.

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July 17, 2023/ Michelle Damiani/ 1 Comment
travel, Around the World
spain, Travel, Family
October 14, 2021

Paris: The Final Curtain on a Year Abroad

October 14, 2021/ Michelle Damiani
Paris: The Final Curtain on a Year Abroad

How France’s City of Light shed clarity on a year in Italy.

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October 14, 2021/ Michelle Damiani/ Comment
blog, Around the World, travel
France, Family, Travel, Food
  • Buy my books/
  • Blog/
  • Travel/
    • Spello
    • Visiting Umbria
    • Travel in Italy
    • Around the World
  • What I Love/
    • Gabe's Blog
    • Food and Drink
    • Books and Movies
    • Italian Cats and Hidden Madonnas
  • Coaching/
  • About/

Michelle Damiani

Website for Michelle Damiani, author of Il Bel Centro: A Year in the Beautiful Center, the funny and heartfelt memoir of an American family living in Spello, as well as Santa Lucia, a page-turner set on the Umbria border. 

Rumors. Romance. And more than a little espresso.

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Last photo from France before we hop over to Italy (but I do have a reel coming about epic seafood experiences centered on Île de Ré). I wonder if you’ll miss my French photos as much as I’ll miss posting them?
The nice thing about needing a stopover somewhere in France to break up a drive between two friends’ homes is it allows you to discover gems like Cahors, a medieval market town with great food, a great market, and great life. See my stories for
When you speak twenty words of a language, it’s a major triumph when you crack a joke. At this tucked away restaurant in Cahors, I decided on the menu shown, awed that the meal would cost as much as a sandwich back home. When Keith ordered, he
You can imagine the dreams I had the night we spent in this castle.
Do I love a market? Mais oui.
Just two cozy mystery writers wandering Narbonne, plotting murders while choosing cheese to refill the supply I already depleted.
If a trip to Pau is in your future (and it should be, this city at the feet of the Pyrenees has a worn-in elegance and unstudied grace that makes it a total winner), stop in at the tourist office for Pass Gourmand tickets. With the tickets you get a
Traffic jam, Pyrenees style.

A trip to Italy is better with language basics! Here’s my recommended course to learn Italian and make your trip fantastico!


Festival participant, speaking about “Il Bel Centro: A Year in the Beautiful Center”

Festival participant, speaking about “Il Bel Centro: A Year in the Beautiful Center”

Featured speaker on panel discussing Romance for “Santa Lucia”

Featured speaker on panel discussing Romance for “Santa Lucia”