The Creative Life - Barbara Trovillo

Ciao a tutti,I am back in the states a week now. It took six nights to begin to sleep on schedule. Going over to Italy was incredibly smooth but coming home was much more difficult. The flight from Rome was delayed three hours. I caught my connector in Newark by a series of miracles! The jet lag was characterized by travel dreams on repeat. I knew my internal clock had adjusted when the dreams stopped. It was totally worth going but arduous, just the same.Before the Christmas season is gone altogether, I thought I would share with you some of the pictures [...]

Ciao amici, Tomorrow we leave for Rome. The craziest things happen to me when I travel. Today, we decided we would take our last adventure before leaving. It was suggested we visit a little town called Trevi that is not too far from Spello. We went to catch the first train at 10:58, only to find it was delayed 90 minutes. So, we decided to take the next train at 11:38. It came on time and took only about 12 minutes to get to Trevi.  When we arrived, we came out of the train station to find the town was way above us!    When [...]

Ciao a tutti, Did you know that Friday the 17th in Italy is like our Friday the 13th? Yes, it is considered a day of bad luck. Today, our landlady and new friend, Silvia was coming to show us the very large apartment above this one she is selling. Unfortunately, there was a terrible accident which prevented her coming. (She is fine.) As she said, it's Friday the 17! We went, as planned, to Foligno today. Kathleen was not impressed.  I love Foligno. I confess I didn't love this small city when I first met it. Foligno suffered damage during the war and [...]

Ciao a tutti, So much to talk about! Today, we went to Spoleto. We are traveling this part of the trip only by bus or train or on foot. Never having been there, I had no idea how to get from the stazione to the top. It turns out they have a series of escalators that take you there!          Again, pictures on the side! Ugh! Sorry, the view is spectacular.  One interesting thing about this town is there are very modern sculptures placed throughout.               This is not sculpture but interesting. The streets go round and round from the top to the [...]

Yesterday I woke early, so happy to be back in Spello! I was hopeful to find the bakery called Antico Forno di Spello open. It is just down the street from where we are staying but was closed when I was here before going to Rome. It was a beautiful morning! I have to apologize before I go any further, my pictures are all sideways. Unfortunately, I can't seem to fix it. Please bear with me. I was happy to find the bakery open and proceeded to open the unlocked door only to find myself in the “laboratorio” where the baking happens! They [...]

Ciao Amici,   What a day this has been.   Big Cities. New York, Philadelphia, Rome..... What do they have in common? History, culture, fashion, art, music, great food, but also traffic, crowds, and even crime.    One time, when in Rome, a friend and myself were almost raped! This time, I was robbed.   Yup, you read that right. Robbed.    Ok, here's the whole story:   Kathleen and I had a fun day exploring Rome by foot and then riding the Hop on, Hop off bus to get an over view of the city. Before getting on the bus, we walked to the Spanish Steps, then to the Trevi Fountain, then [...]

Ciao a tutti,   There is so much that has happened since I last wrote.   First, there is the drive into Perugia to return the rental car. What a nightmare. Remember the drive out of Perugia? This was a different kind of madness. Traffic, accidents, road blocks..... A 45 minute drive took 2.5 hours! Seriously, I won't do that again. That car was not worth the money or aggravation. Once it was delivered, though, I had a nice afternoon walking around the city. From the train station, you take the MiniMetro, in this case, to the top, to get to the center of the [...]

Today was the first day in a week I felt great. I don't remember it taking me this long in the past to overcome the jet lag. It's easy to chalk it all up to being, ah hem, "older". I don't think it is that simple. My goal was to take the week before departure to rest up, hydrate and prepare. Suffice it to say, I missed the mark on that one. If I had it to do over again, I would have made sure I was rested. When I got here, I would have been more moderate in the eating [...]

Ciao a tutti!   Today I moved to my temporary home in Spello. Spello is an ancient walled city in Umbria in the province of Perugia dating back to the 1st century B.C. It is a lovely city with amazing views!    I drove from Fabbri this morning. The driving is easy out here and the signs are clear. Truthfully, though, I highly recommend getting that Italian sim card. It was about 40 euro for a month's service. I can make calls and text with WhatsApp and have the use of google maps! I left early enough to stop for a coffee and to grocery [...]

Ciao a tutti! What a beautiful day in Umbria! It was cold and windy but the sun was shining. When I woke, I could tell I had turned the corner on the jet lag! Arrived on Thursday 8 am, today is Monday. Four full days, I guess that's normal? I am grateful to be feeling clear headed enough to really appreciate this gorgeous place!   First thing, we went to visit a lovely artist friend, Alison Ryde and see her latest work. She is offering Prosecco, Panettone, and Paintings in her studio all the month of December. Look her up on Facebook to see [...]

Ciao, Amici,   To be away from your “real” life for almost a month requires a lot of preparation. I worked hard to take care of the many details I would normally do over the course of the month.   Finally, the morning of departure arrived. I was wide awake at 5 a.m., Get up, get up! Lots to do. I was flying out from Richmond, (an hour and a half drive from our house). We planned to leave at 10 to get there in plenty of time. My darling husband dutifully rolled the carefully packed bag out to the car AND the wheel on the [...]