“Italy will not let you down,” my wise friend Judy Witts Francini told me today. And I in turn thought, “we will not let Italy down.” When the news came in yesterday that the entire country of Italy was in lockdown (or “grounded” as Frances Mayes said, she always has the right words), I was in the edit room working on my most ambitious project yet, a Dream of Italy special for PBS about the transformative power of Italy.

When I say “ambitious,” I mean not only in content (this goes beyond travel to a range of ways Italian culture can help us live better) but in the financial risk I take to bring this show to air. I will admit, I had a moment, literally just a few seconds where I questioned what were doing. Sometimes you have to ask the question, to know you are on the right path. I answered it with more resolve than ever to keep moving full steam ahead.