by Dianne Hales | Mar 31, 2020 | Books, books on Italy, Easter, history, Italy, Religion, Sicily, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
La Settimana Santa (Holy Week) will be different this year, especially in Italy. I recall the chants of the crowd at St. Peter’s on Palm Sunday, the Pope’s recital of the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum on Good Friday, the explosion of bells and shouts of...
by Dianne Hales | Aug 27, 2019 | Books, books on Italy, culture, Food and Drink, history, Italy, Language, Religion, Sicily, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
Once upon a myth, Cronus, son of the god of the sky, castrated his despotic father. Uranus’s testicles fell into the sea, which gave birth to a fully formed woman who floated upon a wave that swept a magic mountain to the northwest tip of Sicily. In a temple atop this...
by Dianne Hales | Aug 20, 2019 | Books, books on Italy, history, Italy, Language, Sicily, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
“Stai attenta!” (Be careful!), Captain Tonino shouts as I dive into the Tyrrhenian Sea off Sicily’s northeastern tip. I ignore his warning. The Aeolian islands, ancient playground of the gods, shimmer as irresistibly now as in times long past. Above me Stromboli, the...
by Dianne Hales | Jul 16, 2019 | Books, books on Italy, history, Italy, Language, Sicily, Web/Tech, Weblogs
La passione italiana dates back to a time before time when a geologic frenzy carved a boot in the middle of the Mediterranean. Convulsing and colliding, tectonic plates thrust an ancient seabed so high that tiny crustaceans were trapped and fossilized in the Italian...
by Dianne Hales | Apr 16, 2019 | Books, books on Italy, culture, Fashion, Film, Florence, history, Italy, Language, Music, Naples, Religion, Romance, Sicily, Travel, Uncategorized, Venice, Web/Tech, Weblogs, wine
I am thrilled to announce the publication of my book: LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World. Like any author, I’m eager for people to read my book. But with more than 8 million titles on Amazon alone, why choose mine? Let me offer seven reasons, based on my...
by Dianne Hales | Apr 5, 2019 | Books, books on Italy, history, Italy, Language, Religion, Sicily, Social behavior, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
The Original Passione Passion Sunday, the fifth Sunday of Lent, marks the beginning of a two-week period sometimes called Passiontide. The early Christians fashioned the word passio from passus, the past participle of the Latin for “suffer.” I never...
