I sat on the cool stone steps of the Piazza Trilussa resting my feet and just breathing in the moment as the twilight deepened toward darkness. On the other side of the square, cars zipped along the edge of the Tiber, and all around me people came and went as the warm spring day yielded […]

Scilla has a stunning solitude this time of year. When the tourists are away, the narrow streets are quiet other than an occasional pedestrian and some hushed voices sitting at a cafe. The storefronts mostly stand closed, and the rare few that are open are staffed by lonely shopkeepers. Even the ripples of the Sea […]

In the ancient epic poem, The Odyssey, the Greek poet Homer tells the tale of Odysseus’s journey home from the Trojan War. He became lost on the way and had to brave numerous trials and dangers including the brutal cyclops, the sirens with their bewitching song, and the Scylla and Charybdis. As the story goes, […]

I love volcanoes – I’ve always loved them, for as long as I can remember. There’s just something about the power, the destruction, the unpredictability, and the intimate association with our history. They have always had some sort of meaning. Seriously – when I was a kid and my dad had to go to Sicily […]