The sounds of church bells are what awakens me on Sunday morning. Not at all a bad way to wake up and thankfully the first ones don’t strike until 8:45am, so I am not forced out of bed too early.If I stay in bed for another 15 minutes, the second reminder of Sunday sounds as the bells attempt to call me to church.I’m living in the Santo Spirito area of Firenze, so happy to have moved away from my first apar ...

The district that surrounds the Duomo constitutes the heart of the historical city center and the area has probably one of the highest concentrations of art per square meter on the whole planet: churches, statues, museums, towers, and historical buildings fill every corner of every street. ...

My mother was pregnant with me the day her father took her to visit the kitchen of the cargo ship where he was working as the crew cook. They went down the narrow stairs to get to the underwater level kitchen. My mother, being a weak-stomach person, got immediately sick with the smell of paint, petrol, salt, moisture and fried onions that characterizes the belly of cargo ships. She didn't say anything, but ...