I don’t know about you, but for me, another summer has flown by. Of course, I say that every summer. But I had a long list of things to accomplish these past few months and I definitely fell short of my objectives. The closet still needs purging, and the garden is still weedy. Thankfully, though, I wasn’t idle; I was just busy with things that weren’t the things I thought I’d be busy with.
Travel Writing
As many of you know, I wear two professional hats — one as the operator of Villaggio Tours and the other as a travel writer specializing (mostly) in Italy. Sometimes those hats are interchangeable, and this past summer was one of those times. I published a lot of articles about travel and travel tips in Italy, and I was interviewed and quoted in still more. Writing about Italy helps me further establish my expertise as an expert. And talking about Italy gives me a big opportunity to talk about my favorite topic — Villaggio Tours.
Here’s a round-up of what I’ve been writing these last couple of months:
- For Huffington Post, I wrote about 7 Quirky Food Rules You Should Follow When You’re In Italy, including the “no cappuccino after 11 am rule,” which really does make sense!
- For Frommers.com, I wrote about the run-up to the 2025 Rome Jubilee year, and how visitors in 2024 are already feeling the effects. I also write the Rome chapters of the Frommer’s travel guides to Italy, so Rome is my part-time stomping grounds — Naomi and I are headed there Friday for a weekend of research and shopping.
- Also for Frommers.com, I wrote about how to save money and where you should spend it in Italy. My hot take: Order the house wine, but spring for the gondola ride.
- For The Telegraph, I wrote about Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy’s “Dying City.” — read on to see why it’s one of the day trips for our weeklong tours of Umbria.
- For Travel + Leisure, one of my steady outlets, I wrote a whole bunch of articles about Italy:
- The 12 Best Hotels in Venice, including Novecento Boutique Hotel, our hotel of choice for our November Fall in Umbria & Hidden Venice tour.
- My favorite lesser-known destinations in Italy. In fairness, it felt a little too self-promotional to include Umbria, but there are some other great spots here.
- I also wrote separate guides to Lake Como, the lovely town of Bellagio, and our dreamy stay at Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, as well as a guide to the southern region of Puglia.
Talking Italy, and Villaggio Tours...
With my Villaggio Tours persona, I was interviewed by several prestigious publications, and got to speak about the travel landscape in Italy and the unique niche that Villaggio Tours fills:
- For AFAR, I talked about ways to see Italy without the crowds (hint: it starts with small towns like Allerona).
- For The Wall Street Journal (kind of a big deal!), I was quoted about how heat waves are impacting summer travel. Scorching heat and dense crowds are two of the main reasons why we don’t currently offer tours in July and August.
- On the wonderful Frommer’s Travel Show podcast, Pauline Frommer and I talked about the 2025 Jubilee Year in Rome, and how Villaggio Tours offers a delightful alternative to Jubilee crowds.
- For my colleague Laura Itzkowitz’s excellent New Roman Times Substack, I got to talk all about Villaggio Tours and my life in Italy. Laura also invited me to guest-write (is that a term?) a Postcard from Allerona.
- For Travel & Leisure (also with Laura writing), I talked about train travel in Italy, and why it’s almost always worth it to buy first class train tickets.
