Busy being dead

Wandering through an old neighbourhood in Bari, Italy a few years ago on a hot hot summer day. We browsed the shops, explored the narrow streets and curious piazzas and stopped in on all the churches. (I am on a mission to find all the Marys I possibly can… and Italy is literally the mother-lode.)

Burano Magic

If an inquisitive and clever eleven year old were to design and build a perfect village/island, they would come up with Burano, an island in the Venetian Lagoon, about 45 minutes ride on the vaporetto from Venice. It’s small population is mostly retirees now, though once it was a bustling fishing centre – thankfully just

Sorrento Getaway

It seemed the perfect place for a clandestine rendezvous, a dangerous tryst, a life-taking risk. Corners all around, but nowhere to hide.

Arrivederci Burano

One of those magical, out of time places that seem too charming to possibly be real… This one clicks to a nice 1024 pixels wide…

Come Back to Sorrento

July 2006. We arrived in Naples after a staggering 30+ hours travel from Auckland. Thought beforehand we’d peruse Napoli – maybe grab some genuine Neapolitan pizza. Or ice cream. Truth was that we were so shattered from travelling that the, um, rustic qualities of Naples were lost on us. So instead of browsing the city

Malena

The day Mussolini declared war on France and Britain, 13-year-old Renato Amoroso (Giuseppe Sulfaro) got his first bicycle and fell in love with Malena Scordia (Monica Bellucci), a 27-year-old war bride whose husband joined the fight in Africa.  There is not a man in the sleepy Sicilian village who does not drool over the exquisite