Bailey Alexander: Dreams from Northern Italy

The A1 and A4. And I’ve been driving up and down both for 20 yrs. My guy and I just drove up and down the A1 on our latest trip to Rome. In between Bologna and Firenze they now ask if u prefer the panoramic or direct route – we chose direct because we want…

Basilica di Santa Maria sopra Minerva is one of the major churches of the Order of Preachers, otherwise known as the Dominicans, of Rome. Located in Piazza della Minerva just one block from the Pantheon is one reason to go, another is to meditate beneath this heavenly ceiling of blue. Another is to honor Saint…

Rome offers the Caravaggio enthusiast a treasure hunt of places to find the artist who created blood and light on canvas. The Church of San Luigi dei Francesi sits in between the Pantheon and Piazza Navona – the national church of France in Rome, named for Louis IX, King of France. Designed by Giacomo della…

We all have that special spot in our favorite city; mine happens to be @ Piazza del Popolo. Before we moved to Trastevere, waiting for our stuff to arrive from across the pond, we lived in a furnished apartment on Via Flaminia, outside the gates. My guy would arrive back in town, call from the…

Tonight @piazza della repubblica

…and one would be the puntarelle; ‘alla romana’ is a typcial side dish – a delicious wintery chicory salad ~ ~ when anchovies taste divine, dare I say sublime.

Not sure my guy ever forgave me for moving away…

Hushed views when our address was in Paris 2006-2009, Prague in 2012, Bucharest in 2013 and Piemonte, Italy, back in the winter of 2014. It wouldn’t dare snow in Malta and we didn’t have a view in Amsterdam. There was none to see from out boat when I lived near Venice for 6 months, a…