A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Welcome to Episode #12:  

We kick off Season 2 with a wonderful conversation with the delightful Ashley Bartner of 
La Tavola Marche, a Cooking School, Farm and Agriturismo in Italy.

Ashley and her husband Jason moved to Italy thirteen years ago from New York with a plan to create their own business off the beaten track in the region of Le Marche.  With a big dream in their back pocket and hearts full of enthusiasm they both ventured into the world of farm life, cooking schools and the Italian Lifestyle.

It wasn't without its trials and tribulations (whatever good thing ever is?) and that is a testament to their ability to keep moving forward no matter what the universe threw their way. 

I loved this conversation for a bunch of reasons.  Not only is Ashley full of heart and zest for life but she is a generous person who not only loves what she does but shares it in spades in this conversation and in life.  

Ashley and Jason have pooled their talents to create a successful business and a hands on experience for the travelers who come from around the world to participate in their workshops and the region of the Le Marche.... the place they call home.

Visit:  www.latavolamarche.com for more information.  You can also listen to their podcast - Podcast From Italy...........

© 2021 A Writer In Italy - travel, writing, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston, © 2021

Please find Show Notes at:

www.michellejohnston.life

Please subscribe, rate and/or review if you enjoyed this podcast.

Instagram:  @awriterinitaly and @theyellowhouse__

About A Writer in Italy Podcast:

Five years ago Michelle Johnston traveled to Italy to create space for herself and her writing.  Michelle traveled solo giving herself time to recalibrate after many years of parenting and life in general.  Leaving her husband to take care of the family she reconnected with her writing, her art and her love of travel.

The adventure turned into the book and travel memoir...............

In the Shadow of a Cypress: An Italian Adventure

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• Welcome to Episode #11 and the Eternal City of Roma.  This is the final chapter of the book share In the Shadow of a Cypress: An Italian Adventure and Season 1 on the podcast A Writer In Italy.  

What a journey it has been.  These last days wandering around Rome from Piazza to Piazza sipping cappuccino and people watching in Piazza della Rotunda were full of delight and spontaneity.  The travelers dream day.  No real destination, just the beauty of turning into a hidden street and discovering the best gelato one has ever tried or a stationary shop to tempt the purchase of just one more journal to write in. 

The day has me wandering across Ponte Sisto to Trastevere in a reverie about life and how it is important to seek and create space for yourself.  I cannot help but reflect on the weeks that have captured something beautiful in Italy.

Stay tuned to the absolute end of this share for details on Season 2 and the next episode to share in 2020, and books and my discoveries of a few Roman treasures of the 21st Century kind.  I do rattle on a little until I decide to just do it and share my inspirations before running off to the school gate.....


© 2021 A Writer In Italy - travel, writing, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston, © 2021

Please find Show Notes at:

www.michellejohnston.life

Please subscribe, rate and/or review if you enjoyed this podcast.

Instagram:  @awriterinitaly and @theyellowhouse__

About A Writer in Italy Podcast:

Five years ago Michelle Johnston traveled to Italy to create space for herself and her writing.  Michelle traveled solo giving herself time to recalibrate after many years of parenting and life in general.  Leaving her husband to take care of the family she reconnected with her writing, her art and her love of travel.

The adventure turned into the book and travel memoir...............

In the Shadow of a Cypress: An Italian Adventure

Support the show

Welcome to Episode #10 

Amalfi, Campania and the joys and discoveries up in the terraced hillside of Pogerola, Italy.

Certainly this recent podcast had me juggling the creative life and the realities of living in Australia at the end of 2019.  However, I was more than happy to share the days in Amalfi and pages from my book  ‘In the Shadow of a Cypress’ in podcast land.....

Amalfi was a collection of rich moments.  The architecture, the history, the location, the sea and the shades of colourful umbrellas on the beach at Positano certainly captured my spirit.  Moments only a traveler who is open to a little coastal magic can have. 

This episode shares days in the village of Amalfi, Positano and Minori until the inevitable return back to Rome for the last part of the journey.  Andiamo......

Please find Show Notes at:

www.michellejohnston.life


© 2021 A Writer In Italy - travel, writing, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston, © 2021

Instagram:  @awriterinitaly and @theyellowhouse__

• Next stop Rome the Eternal City and highlights at the end of the journey.  This is wistful episode, full of heart and a little Rome magic.  
• Stay Tuned there's more to share for Season 2......

About A Writer in Italy Podcast:

Five years ago Michelle Johnston traveled to Italy to create space for herself and her writing.  Michelle traveled solo giving herself time to recalibrate after many years of parenting and life in general.  Leaving her husband to take care of the family she reconnected with her writing, her art and her love of travel.

The adventure turned into the book and travel memoir...............

In the Shadow of a Cypress: An Italian Adventure

Support the show

Welcome to Episode #9 Amalfi, Campania......

Travel Writer and Author Freya Stark once said, “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world. You are surrounded by adventure. You have no idea of what is in store for you, but you will, if you are wise and know the art of travel, let yourself go on the stream of the unknown and accept whatever comes in the spirit in which the gods may offer it. For this reason your customary thoughts, all except the rarest of your friends, even most of your luggage - everything, in fact, which belongs to your everyday life, is merely a hindrance. The tourist travels in his own atmosphere like a snail in his shell and stands, as it were, on his own perambulating doorstep to look at the continents of the world. But if you discard all this, and sally forth with a leisurely and blank mind, there is no knowing what may not happen to you.”       
                              From the Book - Baghdad Sketches: Journey’s Through Iraq


Traveling from Siena to the village of Amalfi was quite a journey and a fresh chapter of my travels around Italy.  Amalfi is ancient, rugged, beautiful and fabulously itself.  I loved the bougainvillea cascading on faded architecture; the cacti and the palms and the baskets of lemons and ceramica on display in the village.  The days were a world away from my real life yet a delight to share and write about.


Please find Show Notes at:

www.michellejohnston.life

Please subscribe, rate and/or review if you enjoyed this podcast.

Instagram:  @awriterinitaly and @theyellowhouse__

About A Writer in Italy Podcast:

Five years ago Michelle Johnston traveled to Italy to create space for herself and her writing.  Michelle traveled solo giving herself time to recalibrate after many years of parenting and life in general.  Leaving her husband to take care of the family she reconnected with her writing, her art and her love of travel.

The adventure turned into the book and travel memoir...............

In the Shadow of a Cypress: An Italian Adventure

Support the show

Welcome to Episode #8  Siena, Tuscany

Book Share: In the Shadow of a Cypress: An Italian Adventure. 

Chapter 6 and the Italian Adventure continues.....After wonderful days exploring Florence and Fiesole to a sweet journey through the Tuscan Countryside to Siena by rail.

Returning to Siena after many years it was wonderful to be sitting and sipping a cappuccino staring at the beauty of the Palazzo Pubblico on my first morning in the Centro Storico of this Unesco World Heritage medieval city.  

Siena is an obvious choice if visiting Florence.  An hour and a half away on the train or by car through majestic countryside and you find yourself in a city like no other. Once upon a time it was a stop on the pilgrimage route as the pilgrims came from the south to Rome along the Via Francigena. 

With its fan shaped piazza, Gothic Duomo, wonderfully dark secretive streets, the non stop celebrations of the Palio Race and the many Renaissance treasures there is much to discover and enjoy inside and outside of the medieval walls.

Please find Show Notes at:

www.michellejohnston.life

© 2021 A Writer In Italy - travel, writing, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston, © 2021

Instagram:  @awriterinitaly and @theyellowhouse__

Next stop the Amalfi Coast for Episode 9.....days spent exploring the villages of Amalfi with trips to Ravello, Positano and more.....

About A Writer in Italy Podcast:

Five years ago Michelle Johnston traveled to Italy to create space for herself and her writing.  Michelle traveled solo giving herself time to recalibrate after many years of parenting and life in general.  Leaving her husband to take care of the family she reconnected with her writing, her art and her love of travel.

The adventure turned into the book and travel memoir...............

In the Shadow of a Cypress: An Italian Adventure

Support the show

Welcome to Episode #7:   A Conversation with Cookbook Author, Food Writer and Photographer Emiko Davies about Italy, Books and Family.......

I had a lovely time over coffee at Tilley’s Lyneham on a chilly winters morning in Canberra chatting and getting to know Emiko and all of the wonderful details about her three cookbooks and how she started as a Food Blogger in Florence, Italy.

I very much enjoyed this conversation forgetting that I am on the recording too, hence all of my oohs and ahhs while listening in rapture to the wonderful details of Emiko’s life.  

Studying art restoration and etching, living in Florence, starting a Tuscan food blog to cure her creative energy and fuel her days, getting the call to write a book, navigating motherhood and Florence, moving to the Maremma in the middle of writing and completing ‘Florentine’, observing and eating seasonally..........All of it a fabulous journey to partake in and share.

I love book publishing stories so had to get to the bottom of how and when this all happened and Emiko is a wonderful story teller so I am grateful she had the time to chat in the lively ambience of Tilley’s on a bustling Monday morning, jazz tunes and all.  

Visit Emiko at www.emikodavies.com


Please find Show Notes at www.michellejohnston.life

© 2021 A Writer In Italy - travel, writing, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston, © 2021

Instagram:  @awriterinitaly and @theyellowhouse__


About A Writer in Italy Podcast:

Five years ago Michelle Johnston traveled to Italy to create space for herself and her writing.  Michelle traveled solo giving herself time to recalibrate after many years of parenting and life in general.  Leaving her husband to take care of the family she reconnected with her writing, her art and her love of travel.

The adventure turned into the book and travel memoir...............

In the Shadow of a Cypress: An Italian Adventure.


A Writer in Italy is a Podcast about sharing the joys and wonders of travel, whether it be from the armchair at home with a favourite travel or cook book on Italy or wherever makes you happy or on a personal adventure in the world.  Enjoy.

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Welcome to Episode 6: Florence and Fiesole......

Book Share: In the Shadow of a Cypress: An Italian Adventure.  

Chapter 4 and the adventure of seeing Florence again after many years, staying in the hill top town of Fiesole, visiting the fabulous Santa Maria del Fiore, The Uffizi Gallery for the Medici Art Collection and the Strozzi Gallery for the Picasso Exhibit.  

The journey of an Italophile at home and in Italy.  Sharing the love of the Anglo-Italian experience and favourite books of past Anglo-Florentines who have loved Florence and made a life there.

A Room With A View, Tea With Mussolini, A Castle in Tuscany: The Remarkable Life of Janet Ross, The Queen Bee of Tuscany: The Redoubtable Janet Ross, A Tuscan Childhood and more recently Emiko Davies and Tessa Kiros's cookbooks.

The Adventure continues, next stop Siena and a wonderful conversation with Emiko Davies about the lure of Italy and her cookbooks, life and living in Florence.

Please find show notes at www.michellejohnston.life


© 2021 A Writer In Italy - travel, writing, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston, © 2021

Instagram:  @awriterinitaly and @theyellowhouse__

About A Writer in Italy Podcast:

Five years ago Michelle Johnston traveled to Italy to create space for herself and her writing.  Michelle traveled solo giving herself time to recalibrate after many years of parenting and life in general.  Leaving her husband to take care of the family she reconnected with her writing, her art and her love of travel.

The adventure turned into the book and travel memoir...............

In the Shadow of a Cypress: An Italian Adventure

Support the show

Welcome to Episode 5: Assisi, Umbria

Book Share: In the Shadow of a Cypress: An Italian Adventure 

The adventure continues in Cortona and a visit to Assisi, the spiritual home of Italy's patron Saint, Saint Francis.  

A beautiful day unfolds exploring the Basilicas and the cities artistic treasures.  

The magic of Assisi leaves its mark and many fond travel memories of the landscape, the cuisine, the art, the architecture and the spontaneous joy of travel.


Endnote: 

New cookbooks to discover, visits to the library for resources and a favourite read 'The Enchanted April'.

Next Chapter: Fiesole and Florence Tuscany. 

Please find show notes at www.michellejohnston.life


© 2021 A Writer In Italy - travel, writing, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston, © 2021

Instagram:  @awriterinitaly and @theyellowhouse__


About A Writer in Italy Podcast:

Five years ago Michelle Johnston traveled to Italy to create space for herself and her writing.  Michelle traveled solo giving herself time to recalibrate after many years of parenting and life in general.  Leaving her husband to take care of the family she reconnected with her writing, her art and her love of travel.

The adventure turned into the book and travel memoir...............

In the Shadow of a Cypress: An Italian Adventure

Welcome to a Writer in Italy Podcast.  

Support the show

Welcome to Episode 4: Cortona, Italy

Book Share:  In the Shadow of a Cypress: An Italian Adventure

Chapter 3: "Terrible Ideas, hmmm don't you just love those?"..........Under The Tuscan Sun (film)

This chapter is an exploration of Cortona and shares the joy of spontaneous travel as events unfold over a day in the beautiful Tuscan town of Cortona.  

Food, wine and a visit to Villa Bramasole to take in the beauty and magic of Cortona.  

Inspired by the books and the lifestyle of Frances Mayes this episode has Michelle musing over this influence on her life over the past twenty years.

Endnote:  Thoughts on living the creative life and publishing Woman on the Verge.....a book about creativity, life, women and art journals.


Please find show notes at www.michellejohnston.life

Details at the end of episode on favourite Italian inspired books.............

© 2021 A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston, © 2021

Instagram:  @awriterinitaly and @theyellowhouse__


About A Writer in Italy Podcast:

Five years ago Michelle Johnston traveled to Italy to create space for herself and her writing.  Michelle traveled solo giving herself time to recalibrate after many years of parenting and life in general.  Leaving her husband to take care of the family she reconnected with her writing, her art and her love of travel.

The adventure turned into the book and travel memoir...............

In the Shadow of a Cypress: An Italian Adventure

Welcome to a Writer in Italy Podcast.  

Support the show

Welcome to Episode 3: Orvieto, Umbria

Book Share:  In the Shadow of a Cypress:  An Italian Adventure

Chapter 2:  "I have a great talent for perseverance" My House in Umbria (film)

This chapter is the beginning of my adventures around Italy on Trenitalia and has me musing over my time away from family and life as I know it.  A few days here has me falling hard for the landscape, the architecture, the grand beauty that Italy is renown for and the hearty Umbrian cuisine of the autumn season.   Enjoy.....

Please find Show Notes at www.michellejohnston.life

Details at the end of episode on favourite Italian inspired books.............


© 2021 A Writer In Italy - travel, writing, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston, © 2021

Instagram:  @awriterinitaly and @theyellowhouse__


About A Writer in Italy Podcast:

Five years ago Michelle Johnston traveled to Italy to create space for herself and her writing.  Michelle traveled solo giving herself time to recalibrate after many years of parenting and life in general.  Leaving her husband to take care of the family she reconnected with her writing, her art and her love of travel.

The adventure turned into the book and travel memoir...............

In the Shadow of a Cypress: An Italian Adventure

Welcome to a Writer in Italy Podcast.  

Support the show