Posted in Artists in Italy, Culture, Italian Culture, Italy, Orvieto, Orvieto Italy, Travel, Travel to Italy, Umbria, tagged 31 Days of Orvieto, I love Orvieto, Kelly Medford, Kelly Medford Art, Travel Writer on August 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Kelly Medford in progress
Piazza della Repubblica, Orvieto
Orvieto, Italy
Posted in Culture, Italy, Living abroad, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Orvieto Italy, Photography, Travel, Umbria, tagged Duomo di Orvieto, friendship, la confaloniera, Orvieto, photography, Win Sargent on April 6, 2015| 29 Comments »
It began almost a year ago. A man was visiting a mutual friend of mine in Orvieto and took a picture of an elegant, solitary gentleman sitting on the bench across from the Duomo. Several months later the photographer wrote to ask if I knew the gentleman’s name or how to contact him. He thought the man and his family might like to have a copy of the portrait.
Although I’d passed him many times on the street, I didn’t know him personally. Naturally, I turned to social media for help, posting the above photo on my Facebook page with the following caption:
“This is a beautiful photo shot by a friend while visiting Orvieto last spring. I have seen this man around town but I’ve never formally met him. Does anyone know him? If so, perhaps he might like to see his portrait – it’s stunning.”
Responses poured in.
Signor Lollo (affectionately known simply as “Lollo”) was a beloved mathematics professor at the high school. They say he is sweet and gentle and that I might find him walking along la confaloniera (the promenade on the edge of town) in the mornings. In any other circumstance I might have staked out the confaloniera at dawn, bounding up to him in my overly perky American style, but in this instance I thought better of it. Something told me he was a private person and maybe a bit shy as well.
It wasn’t long before fate stepped-in and I found myself alone on the street with Lollo walking towards me. I politely stopped him and asked if I could show him something? He said yes, so I pulled up the photo on my iPhone. “Carina, la foto”, he said and told me he had remembered the day it was taken. I asked if he had email, but of course he doesn’t. Then he said “Grazie, Cara”, turned and went on his way.
I’d been carrying around the 5 x 7 print in my purse for weeks, waiting to see Lollo again. Finally I spotted him down on the Corso and after greetings were exchanged, I handed him the beautiful photograph and said it was his to keep. He seemed pleased and touched by the gift.
Nowadays, whenever Lollo and I run into each other on our walks, we always stop and have a little chat. We’ve even developed a “secret handshake”.
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but the connection it formed with a stranger that turned into an unlikely friendship is priceless.
Photograph by Win Sargent
Posted in Americans Abroad, Book Review, Culture, Expat in Italy, Italy, Living abroad, Living in Europe, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Orvieto Italy, Rome, Travel, Travel to Italy, writing, tagged Alex Nicholas, crimefiction, Death Logs In Book Review, E.J. Simon, Italy, Italy Book Tours, JimEJSimon, Michael Nicholas, Nouveauwriter, Rome, Stephen Hawking, suspense, thriller, underworld Boss on January 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Death Logs In is the second book in E. J. Simon’s techno-thriller crime series. The first, Death Never Sleeps was published in 2013 and rose to #2 on Amazon Kindle, as well as appeared on numerous bestseller lists in the U.S. and abroad. Initially self-published, Simon/Zef began publishing Death Never Sleeps after it moved over 80,000 copies in its first year.
Unfortunately, I was unable to read the first book in the series because both copies mailed to me never reached my home in Orvieto. Ahhh, the Italian postal service…talk about a shady organized crime syndicate!
“Some of the most powerful people in the world want to kill Michael Nicholas. Only his brother, Alex can save him – the problem is that Alex is dead. It’s been almost a year since Alex Nicholas, a Queens based underworld Boss, was gunned down. After Alex’s brutal murder, Michael inherited not only his brother’s business – but his enemies. Michael is now a key player in a world he once feared. By day, he is the head of a Fortune 500 company by night, the CEO of Tartarus, one of the worlds largest illegal gambling operations.”
Review of Death Logs In….
Thrillers and crime novels aren’t really my thing, but I wanted to keep an open mind as I began reading E. J. Simon’s newest novel, Death Logs In.
Death Logs In has all the makings of a great crime/mob thriller. There’s protagonist, Michael “just when I though I was out, they pulled me back in” Nicholas – a reluctant gangster who was left to run his brother’s gambling empire after his death. Sindy Steele is a femme fatale bodyguard with more secrets than the Vatican has gold leaf, and Michael’s wife Samantha, who likes to shop but doesn’t much care for Michael and Sindy’s business association. The cast of characters are rounded-out by two meathead bookies from Queens, a whiney but deadly assassin stuck in exile at one of Rome’s finest hotels, and a gaggle of high-powered Catholic priests whose dealings have nothing to do with “God’s work”. It’s The Godfather-meets-Goodfellas-meets-The DaVinci Code.
I had some trouble, initially, getting past the artificial intelligence premise on which the story is based. To be fair to the author, I’ve always been a bit of a skeptic – especially when it comes to future shock/conspiracy theories. If a Stephen Hawking had come to me personally to explain “AI” principle, I might be more receptive to the idea…but then again, maybe not.
The improbable plot aside, I also struggled with the schizophrenic quality of the storyline. Locations changed and jumped around a lot and some chapters were way too short, making the plot extremely difficult to follow. The sanitized dialog stuck out like a sore thumb – not one single F-bomb in a book full of mobsters? A novel about a criminal underworld should have a little edge.
Finally, the world-class destinations such as New York, London, Rome and Paris were underused. Scenes were invariably set inside restaurants, bars or hotel rooms instead of taking the reader on a clandestine gondola ride on the Grand Canal, a car chase through the streets of Rome, or a cliff-hanging murder scene atop the Eiffel Tower. It might have been contrived and cliché, but at least it would have been fun.
Regrettably, Death Logs In is a book I’m less than enthusiastic about. In my opinion, the author didn’t take the story of racketeering and church corruption quite far enough. But as I said earlier, crime thrillers aren’t really my thing…they could however, really be yours.
Meet the Author:
E.J. Simon was the CEO of GMAC Global Relocation Services (a division of GM) and the Managing Director of Douglas Elliman, the largest real estate company in NY.
He is a consultant to many leading private equity firms and has held senior level positions at prominent financial services companies.
He is a world traveler, food enthusiast and lives in Connecticut.Death Never Sleeps is his first novel. His second novel, Death Logs In, will be available in October 2014.
Connect with him: Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter
CHECK OUT THE BOOK TRAILER:
Where to buy the book:
Death Never Sleeps – Amazon.it / Amazon.fr
Death Logs In – Amazon.it / Amazon.fr
TO READ OTHER REVIEWS OF Death Logs In click on the links below.
Tour Schedule:
Dec 12 – Monica Cesarato – review Death Logs In
Dec 17 – The Good Life France – review of Death Logs In / author interview
Dec 17 – Curiosity and a Carry On – review of Death Logs In
Dec 22 – Why Roam? – Book Spotlight / guest post
Dec 29 – The Good Life France – giveaway
Jan 5 – Young in Rome – review Death Never Sleeps
Jan 7 – Orvieto or Bust – review Death Logs In
Jan – Young in Rome – review Death Logs In
Jan – The Venice Experience – review Death Never Sleeps
Jan – The Venice Experience – review Death Logs In
Jan – Erica Firpo – review Death Never Sleeps
Jan – Erica Firpo – review Death Logs In
Italy Book Tours gets books in the hands of readers who love everything Italian. They offer professional virtual book tours to authors and publishers whose books are set in Italy, have an Italian theme, are written by an Italian author or translated from Italian. For more information you can contact Laura Fabiani at http://www.italybooktours.com.
Posted in Expat in Italy, Italy, Living abroad, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Orvieto Italy, Travel, Umbria, tagged drunk teenagers, Jim Morrison, Pappardelle con ragu, Vicolo Wars, Vicolo Wars: The Sequel on December 1, 2014| 12 Comments »
*This quote was attributed to the late Jim Morrison, however I was unable to find confirmation that he had ever said it. It appears to be an urban myth circulating around the Italian Internet.
Vicolo Wars Update:
December 2, 2014 – Last night a young friend of mine saw the Facebook Post and photo below. Translation: “One person in Orvieto assessed the situation with a little sense of humor.”
It’s nice to know this young man appreciated the sarcasm. Bravo Nicola!
Posted in Americans Abroad, Expat in Italy, Italians, Italy, Living abroad, Living in Italy, Orvieto Italy, Travel, tagged alfabeto fonetico, Google Translate, italian hand gestures, learning Italian, Speaking Italian, talking with your hands, tips for speaking italian on July 24, 2014| 20 Comments »
The Iceberg Project is based on the theory that most of what you learn about culture when visiting a new country without speaking the language is just the tip of the iceberg. To learn more about The Iceberg Project go to click here
by Toni DeBella
Posted in Food in Italy, Italy, Orvieto, Orvieto Italy, Travel, Travel to Italy, Umbria, Uncategorized, tagged olive oil harvest in Italy, picking olives, raccolta delle olive, Umbria on November 24, 2013| 13 Comments »
Posted in Italy, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Orvieto Italy, Travel, Travel to Italy, Umbria, tagged evening strolls in Italy, La Passeggiata, Orvieto passeggiata on November 4, 2013| 12 Comments »
The clock tower bells ring out to announce it’s six o’clock. I jump up, grab my coat, obligatory scarf and run out the front door towards the main street of town! No one loves Sunday passeggiata (evening stroll) more than I do! 
It’s here at the intersection of Corso Cavour and Via Del Duomo that foot traffic builds to critical mass, bottlenecking to create a kind of pedestrian gridlock.
Posted in Artists in Italy, Italy, Living in Italy, Orvieto Italy, Rome, Travel, tagged florence academy of art, Kelly Medford, Pincio, plein air painting, Rome Italy, Rome Plein Air artist, Sketching Tour of Rome, tours of rome, Villa Borghese on September 4, 2013| 11 Comments »
I met Kelly outside a book event in Rome last fall. mistaking her for a college student studying abroad. Perhaps it was her fresh face and wide-eyed exuberance that makes Kelly seem much younger than her years. But make no mistake about it, this petite powerhouse of a woman is an accomplished painter with serious credentials.
Fortunately for us, Kelly’s travels eventually landed her in Italy where she studied at the prestigious Florence Academy of Art. It was in the Renaissance capital that she spent a year of intensive training in classical figurative drawing; honing her skills and developing her techniques. Painting indoors made Kelly feel isolated and itching to spread her wings so, in 2010, she traded the dimly lit, heavy-curtained and controlled environment of Florence for the warm, golden sun-soaked locations of Rome. You’ll most likely find Kelly on a tiny lane or hidden piazza painting evocative canvases of Roman life or its surrounding countryside.
Kelly’s love and enthusiasm for plein air painting developed, naturally, into her business, Sketching Rome Tours. “I created the tour so that people could have a different way of experiencing and remembering Rome. It’s such a beautiful place with so much history, that to take a photograph doesn’t really capture how you feel about a place.”
Posted in Italy, Living in Italy, Orvieto Italy, Travel, Travel to Italy, tagged HGTV, House Hunters International, orvieto italy on July 8, 2013| 71 Comments »
Yeah, I know, I’ve been in a lot of film and video lately. Fifty-six years of relative obscurity and then, all of sudden, a rash of media exposure. 
Posted in Italy, Living abroad, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Orvieto Italy, Rome, San Francisco, Travel, Travel to Italy, Uncategorized, tagged Amore di Mamma, Orvieto, orvieto italy, Rome on May 30, 2013| 20 Comments »
Today I especially felt the sting of that choice as I accompanied Andrew to the train station. I decided not to see him off at the airport because he absolutely hates it when I make public displays of emotion. 
Toni DeBella
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Orvieto or Bust: 
