Three Things from Italy

Returning, Packing, Recommendations

What I’m writing…

Well, I’m not right now! But I purposely did a revision of my new novel before we left so that when we’re back I’ll be ready to write to the finish line. Back from where? Michael and I have been happily traveling since the first week of June—from Tbilisi, Georgia to Rome to the dreamy town of Spello in Umbria.

Top row, Tbilisi; Middle row, Rome; Bottom row, Spello

A few days ago we arrived at one of my favorite places in the world, Tenuta di Spannocchia outside of Siena in Tuscany.

Tuscan blue sky, no filter

I never understand why someone wouldn’t want to return to a place they’ve been and loved. I’ll go to London or Ireland or Italy again and again and again. (or Greece or Spain or…you get the idea). In fact, the more I return to a place, the more I get from it. There’s nothing like seeing something for the first time, except seeing it again and getting that special rush of emotion: Ah! Here!

The view from our farmhouse porch

So it is with Spannocchia. I first came in 2007 to write about it for Bon Appetit and have returned at least a dozen times with my kids (they’re here with me now!). About twelve years ago I began taking student writers here to study with some of my favorite people. This year, Laura Lippman, Luis Alberto Urrea, John Dufresne, and Stewart O’Nan have joined us. If you’re interested in coming to the Spannocchia Writers Workshop, email me! Dates for 2025 are November 8-15.

Laura Lippman and Stewart O’Nan at the nightly wine reception

But Spannocchia is special for even another reason. In my new novel, The Stolen Child, as unlikely duo Nick and Jenny travel through France and Italy searching to unravel the mystery of what happened to the child Nick left behind decades earlier, a clue leads them to a farm in Tuscany that I based on Spannocchia. When you read the book, you’ll get to visit here too! (Unlike the real place, the characters Nick and Jenny meet are very unfriendly—that’s fiction for you!)

What I’m knitting…

Just before we left, I finished the project who’s progress I’ve been sharing here.

Travel requires a portable project, so even though the one I brought will eventually be quite a large wrap, at the start it fits into a large Ziplock bag. I’m knitting the Purl Soho Soft Stripes Wrap in Tussock’s Bright Thistle with Novella’s vibrant Goji Berry. The colors are so dreamy, aren’t they?

What I’m thinking about…

There’s lots to think about before leaving on a long trip like this but high on the list is how to pack everything into just carry on luggage. I will do almost anything not to check a bag. This takes some work, especially if I’m going somewhere that requires rain gear and/or sweaters, like this past February when Michael and I went to the Isle of Skye. (But I did it!)

My secret is that I don’t mind wearing the same thing over and over. I don’t need to match my shoes to my dress. I don’t wear jewelry. These peccadilloes make packing very easy. Don’t get me wrong, I like to look nice! I just don’t mind hitting REPEAT. So: seven dresses, two caftans that double as nightgowns, a pair of black leggings, one oversized shirt, white Birkenstocks and my Jack Purcell sneakers, and…

Voila!

By the way, that striped bag, S-Zone Women Travel Tote Weekender, is amazing. It holds my computer, toiletries, cords and chargers, our coffee filters, my knitting, and a book!

And let me make a shout out to my hat. Best sun hat ever, bought on a NYC street, under the High Line.

And one more thing…

For some wonderful armchair traveling, I recommend these Substack newsletters.

If you’d like to travel around Asia, I recommend this one by our dear friend and former owner of one of our favorite Providence restaurants, Chez Pascal:

Kristin Gennuso

David Lebovitz

will show you Paris up close and share recipes for all things yummy (including cocktails).

Want to hear more about our time in Georgia? My beloved writes all about it in his latest newsletter

Michael Ruhlman

And you don’t have to be a knitter to enjoy Arne and Carlos taking you around Norway on their YouTube channel.

That’s all for this time! As always, thanks for reading. Three More Things will arrive in your mailbox again in a couple weeks. Until then, here’s one of my favorite poems about travel, “Questions of Travel” by Elizabeth Bishop for you to ponder.