I recently succumbed to one of my compulsions. It was neither the shoe nor the glove nor chocolates — whose only payback are bank-statement dismay and knee-jerk restraint. No, from the new-books table in the library I picked up “The Lady in the Palazzo” by Marlena de Blasi, yet another book about a “foreigner’s” experience in Italy. Such books make me into the kind of … Continue reading Devils in Paradise

In May, I followed a testy newspaper exchange between Francesco Giavazzi, who teaches economics at Milan’s Bocconi and MIT, and the principal of Milan’s Liceo Beccaria (May 11 and May 16, Corriere della Sera). Responding to criticism about the sad state of her school’s bathroom hygiene as noted by lecturers during an international economics forum, the principal dissembled (as Giavazzi guessed she would). She said emphasizing … Continue reading Clean Dreaming

oday in the car, I turned left from a busy street into one that was narrow and one-way. Coming the other way was a grey Peugeot with two “older” women — nonne — in it. The driver peered over the steering wheel and made frantic gestures suggesting I turn back. Sure of myself, but knowing that Italians can change street directions without informing the public, I checked. … Continue reading Nonne, Nonnine

While studying art history in graduate school, I read about something unlikely: A collection of contemporary American art — Rauschenberg, Carl Andre, James Rosenquist — equal to any in America, in a villa near Milan. It allegedly belonged to a man named Giovanni Panza di Biumo whose bank-clerk looks hardly fit with his avant-garde collection. It was all true. For 50 years, Panza di Biumo … Continue reading Light and Color

Recently, a new acquaintance asked what I do and I listed this column among the surfeit of activities that — as Italian grandmothers say — help pass the time. “Oh,” she said, “is that the magazine with all the tragic stories about how awful Italian men are and how bad Italian internet providers are?” Before you think this column is intended to prove her wrong, … Continue reading Siticibo Samaritans

Having kissed enough frogs in the categories of World War II espionage/love-story and intergenerational mother-daughter incomprehension, this reviewer quickly recognized Boyd’s book as a prince of a book. England in a late 1970s summer: Ruth Gilmartin all-around inconclusive young woman goes for a visit to her mother, a spry 80-year old who claims to be confined to a wheelchair. Her capricious — and Ruth suspects … Continue reading Restless

Some readers may remember my column from March 2006 in which I noted Milan’s origins as the Roman camp Mediolanum, “the place in the middle,” where Europe’s East, West and North South axes naturally cross. In that piece, I didn’t bother with the broader implications of geography and destiny, preferring to complain that my visitors rushed off for places whose geographic destinies offered more charming … Continue reading Milan, Ohio

ince I arrived in Italy, the number of homegrown things I can’t do without, replace or substitute has shrunk. Fresh cranberries actually appear in season and Ikea’s lingonberry jam can pass as cranberry jelly. Skype has made calling home cheap. Amazon keeps my bookshelf (too) filled. But one thing I do miss and it isn’t “coming soon” is a real American public library. I mean … Continue reading Collection of Hope

Did you ever wonder why friendships with the other sex were tricky? Or why even an intelligent woman might feel inexplicably prone to acts of incompetence in the presence of an interesting man? Or why groups of women dedicate huge amounts of time to examining their friends’ partners? What is gossip for and is jealously necessary? Is rape inevitable? What are the origins of war … Continue reading The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating

Two items in the Milan section of Corriere della Sera recently caught my eye. The first announced the closure of the Marisa stores on Via Sant’Andrea and the second the comune’s decision to remove the rounded concrete pylons, known as panettoni that — in the name of traffic control — lurk stealthily below sight lines to the chagrin of inattentive or inexperienced motorists. Usually news items in my column illustrate broader messages … Continue reading Milan Quiz