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Pilgrims have been pouring into this medieval hilltop town to venerate not only two of the Catholic Church’s most celebrated saints, Francis and Clare, but its newest — Carlo Acutis, the first millennial saint, who will be canonized on April 27. “St. Francis, St. Clare, of course, important saints who marked an epoch – but that’s far removed from t...

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I’ve traveled to some of Italy’s most popular destinations, intent on visiting the famous museums, architectural wonders, master artworks, and historical sites—all while indulging in amazing food and wine along with hundreds of other people yearning to see and do the same things. As one of the world’s most popular countries to visit, it’s hard to e...

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Umbria, Italy, is often overlooked. The better-known neighboring regions of Tuscany and Lazio usually steal the spotlight, but Umbria (pronounced “ooohm-bree-ah”) is a lesser-known gem worth exploring. While it doesn’t have a sprawling metropolis or primary industry to hang its hat on, it checks the boxes on all things classic Italian. We’re talk...

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On Monday, Feb. 24, Walla Walla Mayor Tom Scribner received this statue on behalf of the City, as a gift from Mayor Fabrizio Garreggia of Cannara, Perugia, Italy. Walla Walla and Cannara have been sister cities since signing a pact of friendship in December 2015. The statue, by artist Antonio De Paoli, is titled "...Andate e riempite il cielo di ca...

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Hills and forests, meadows and fields, Umbria “green heart of Italy.” This is all true, but there is much more! The gentle hills are gradually replaced by mountainous conformations such as Mount Subasio, Mount Cucco with its caves, Mount Tezio, the Martani Mountains and the Sibillini Mountains chain. Thinking of the Sibillini Mountains National Par...

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Nestled in the heart of Italy, Perugia is the gem of Umbria—a region known as the “green heart” of the country. While it lacks a coastline, this historic city more than makes up for it with its charm and strategic location. With approximately 160,000 residents, Perugia ranks as Italy’s 30th most populated city. Though it cannot compete in size with...

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The "7% solution" is a formula to stop the depopulation of historic villages in the heart of Italy: a flat tax reduced to the bare minimum for pensioners who decide to relocate to the "crater" affected by the 2016 earthquake. Will it work? "Here in Norcia people haven’t fled. But when I visit other towns in the area, I see that the situation is ble...

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Orvieto is one of the most striking, memorable, and enjoyable hill towns in central Italy. About 90 minutes from Rome, Orvieto sits majestically high above the valley floor atop a big chunk of tufo volcanic stone (tuff), overlooking cypress-dotted Umbrian plains. A visit here will reward you with a delightful, perfectly preserved, and virtually tra...

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The meeting point is in Perugia’s historic centre, at the corner of Via dei Cartolari and Via Alessi, in front of the elegant Palazzo Ansidei di Catrano. One’s imagination immediately drifts to the luxurious life of Luisa Spagnoli, a pioneering entrepreneur in the food and fashion sectors. She became wealthy, but she started in the basement of that...

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The Italian release of James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” is prompting local media to claim that, unlike in the movie, Dylan traveled to Italy in 1962 in pursuit of Suze Rotolo — named Sylvie Russo in the film and played by Elle Fanning — who had left New York to study abroad. In 1962, Rotolo left the Greenwich Village apartment...

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