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

"My grandmother always used to tell me your last name is going to bring you luck.  When people meet you it makes them happy and a little bit hungry too" - Luca Spaghetti, Un Amico Italiano -  Eat Pray Love in Rome

Welcome to  Episode #82:

Twenty years ago the writer Elizabeth Gilbert made the city of Rome her home for three months before visiting India and Bali.  While living in Rome one of Gilbert’s new friends was Roman born Luca Spaghetti.  Soon the memoir “Eat Pray Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything” became an International Best Seller.   Luca Spaghetti suddenly found himself as a character in the book and later in the film “Eat Pray Love”.  

Today is a special guest - Luca Spaghetti telling his story about this beautiful chapter in his life and the treasured friendship that endures.  We talk about the two books he wrote “Un Amico Italiano - Eat Pray Love in Rome” and “Anything Is Possible”.  They are two of my favourite books, and a real delight to read and discover. 
Enjoy this share, and thank you Luca for a beautiful conversation.

Find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

You can now Support the Podcast and send your encouragement.

© 2023  A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2023

Support the show

"I just knew that I had to figure it out for myself, step by step" - Claire Hearn,  My Five Year Journey in Italy....

Welcome to Episode #81,

This week I share a conversation with Ms Britaly from Palermo in Sicily.  Five years ago, Claire Hearn made the decision to change her life and move in the direction of her dreams.  Claire landed in Salerno in Campania, on the Amalfi Coast and started a new life.  
Here is her story and the journey of life in Italy, moving to vibrant Palermo and writing her two books, self publishing and her discoveries and life adventures….

Enjoy,

Claire’s Links:

Visit for Insights on the South of Italy and More -  Ms Britaly

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/MsBritaly 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/MsBritaly

Find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

You can now Support the Podcast and send your encouragement.

© 2023  A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2023

Support the show

“And we are of course, each one of us, the historians of our own lives” - Hisham Matar, A Month in Siena

Welcome to Episode #80;

In this episode I share pages from ‘Italian Hours’ a travel journal I am in the middle of creating.  I share my feelings about creativity and my artistic process on making pages happen!  I also give tips on stationary, art paper and how to build the momentum one page at a time and not get stuck in feeling overwhelm at the beginning. I talk about art journals and travel journals and at the end read from my art book ‘Italian Hours”…

Find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

You can now Support the Podcast and send your encouragement.

© 2023  A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2023

Support the show

"I thought I had the perfect life in New York, but fate had something different in mind for me.  I've fallen in love with this place and what it has to offer"  -   Casalvento: House of the Wind by Gudrun Cuillo

Welcome to Episode #79:

About twenty five years ago, Bob and Gudrun Cuillo were looking for a place to buy in Capri Italy, not far from Benevento, near Naples where Bob had family ties to the region.   The Capri property fell through and next they found themselves in Tuscany talking to friends when they were introduced to an ancient Borgo in Radda, Chianti that might be up for sale.  A week later they were the owners of medieval Casalvento, a hamlet of land and historic buildings.  Bob And Gudrun didn’t even realise there was a vineyard, and on the ground were vines of Chianti Classico.   Bob and Gudrun’s fate was sealed and the next twenty years or so were spent restoring the vineyard, the olives and the Borgo, amongst other projects in their busy and creative lives. Later they purchased more land close by, a medieval hamlet called Livernano and onwards they went.  

Today I introduce to Gudrun Cuillo and her book of fiction Casalvento - House of the Wind.  If you love a book set in Italy, and heart thudding, more palpitations set in the beautiful hills of Tuscany, but not just Tuscany that Italian Ideal, the Italian beauty Chianti, one of the oldest settlements ancient Radda, and if you love a little romance and travel, and Italian history and a story that makes you want to jump on a plane, well as soon as possible,  well then Casalvento: House of the Wind is a book to escape with, wherever you are in the world.

Gudrun’s estate these days makes award winning wines, Chianti Classico, Chianti Riserva, those gorgeous Super Tuscans and much more.  You can also stay and sip at your own leisure, do cooking classes, and wine tours, but mostly if you are intrigued you can visit her website Livernano Winery and Resort and follow Gudrun on Instagram at livernano_casalvento_ ….

Or just listen along and enjoy Gudrun’s story about the vines, the wine making and the writing journey.  And the surprising and wonderful process of becoming a fiction author, something she turned to at a time of grief and loss.  You can find her book Casalvento:  House of the Wind at all the usual places. 

Find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

You can now Support the Podcast and send your encouragement.

© 2023  A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2023

Support the show

"We will cook together, you’ll don an apron and get your hands dirty, learning about local traditions on the way.  We eat and drink together, tasting wines chosen by Marco. Afterwards, in the late afternoon and evenings, you are free to go and explore or rest or catch up with family....."

Welcome to the Episode #78:

In this bountiful share we talk about Emiko Davies and Marco Lami’s new Adventure, Enoteca Marilu in the village of San Miniato in Tuscany.  We talk Slow Food and Slow Travel and why they wanted to create their own Natural Wine Shop and Cooking School close to home.  

We discuss Emiko’s cookbooks and the next publication,  ‘Gohan: Everyday Japanese Cooking Memories and Stories from My Family Kitchen’ that is due out September 2023.   One cannot resist asking Emiko a 100 questions about her books and the food writing journey.  We discuss ‘food’ and the journey to creating her beautiful cookbooks.

Enjoy….

If you want to spend time at Emiko and Marco's Tuscan Table visit:  Enoteca Marilu

Find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

You can now Support the Podcast and send your encouragement.

© 2023  A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2023

Support the show

"R is for Rome.  Roma is my Lupa, the She-Wolf.   She is mother and my muse" - Michelle Ciani, Letters from Rome

Welcome to Episode #77:  

Michelle Ciani lives in Rome, Italy.  Through her writing and journals, she explores place, home, identity and belonging.  Rome is the muse, the portal and the inspiration behind her words and letters.  Life is a quest.  Some of have a sense of belonging and some of us search for it.  Here we talk about living in Rome and searching for identity and place.  A place can mean many things, but what if a city takes you under their wing and points the way?  

R is for Rome, Michelle Ciani writes letters to her city and she mails them all around the world to people who want to connect and feel that Roman magic.  We speak of Michelle’s writing journey and daily journal writing as a tool for introspection and therapy.   We talk about writing memoir and her connection to the region of Basilicata. 

This is a great chat if you are interested in the writing journey and living the creative life.  And yes, all roads lead to Rome.

Visit Michelle Ciani:  Letters from Rome

Find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

You can now Support the Podcast and send your encouragement.

© 2023  A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2023

Support the show

“Far from a fleeting moment in history, or a stack of stones, the open museum of Sardinia recounted a story of foundations; a story of birth and rebirth, of endurance and resilience, and re-use, and a story of rituals and cross cultural ways that had made the island the staging ground of civilizations that not only shaped its own peoples, but the rest of the Mediterranean” - Jeff Biggers, In Sardinia: An Unexpected Journey 

Welcome to Episode #76,

Today, I have a wonderful conversation with Jeff Biggers - Historian, Journalist, Author and Travel Writer about his new book: In Sardinia An Unexpected Journey In Italy.  

This is a rich and expensive conversation not only about the convoluted history of Sardinia and the culture, but illuminates a part of Italy that many are yet to discover…..Biggers excavates stone by stone, poet by poet and layer by layer and gives us a fresh perspective on the island and the Sardinian culture, and what’s more he is a wonderful storyteller.  

In the book and conversation you will discover: 

The Nuragic Civilisation, Neolithic Sites, The Blue Zones, Sardinian Food and Wine, the Artists and Writers (described as an island of narration) and much more....

Book Link:  In Sardinia: An Unexpected Journey in Italy

Enjoy,

Find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

You can now Support the Podcast and send your encouragement.

© 2023  A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2023

Support the show

Support the show

"What if you could somehow create an expansive enough life that you could synchronize seemingly incongruous opposites into a world view that excludes nothing?” - Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love

Can a book be mythical and kind of a life time journey.  Yes it can!  This a story about the book Eat Pray Love and the journey I have had with this book….

Welcome to Episode #75

Find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

You can now Support the Podcast and send your encouragement.

© 2023  A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2023

Support the show

 “And I do believe that Italy really purifies and ennobles all who visit her. She is the school as well as the playground of the world.” – E. M. Forster

Welcome to Episode #74

Q..  Do you have a story you would like to share with me on Italy?

I am open to a personal letter or a Voice Message that I will share or read on a special Podcast Episode or 2 on your Italy!!

Possibilities…..

*️⃣ Moving to Italy

*️⃣ Starting a Business

*️⃣ Starting Again, Second Life!

*️⃣ Taking a Risk

*️⃣ Food, wine, Seasonal Splendour

*️⃣ Writing a Book

*️⃣ Family Heritage

*️⃣ Love Letter to Italy

*️⃣ A Book that changed you!

*️⃣ Inspired at home outside of Italy

Send letter, MP3, or Voice Message (I can edit/enhance audio) to:
⏩  [email protected]

Please give permission to use via email and add your Instagram or Business name or Website to Share with the Story

Audio/MP3- 20 minutes max!
Or send 2 separate emails (I will edit) Sent from my iPhone

Or join me on the Podcast - Submit your story to me via the Email! 

Find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

You can now Support the Podcast and send your encouragement.

© 2023  A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2023

Support the show

"The Thing about Rome is that it always manages to give you something special" - Luca Spaghetti, Un Amico Italiano - Eat Pray Love in Rome

Welcome to Episode #73:

Italy seems to find its way into many people’s hearts whether it be through the world of books or the joy of a holiday experience.  It is always fun to have a conversation about favourite books and discovering how Italy has played a significant role in a travel journey or a writing project.  

Here is a fun chat with Laura Botten about her favourite books set in Italy and that special trip to Rome that led to her writing her first book!

Visit:  Laura Botten
Follow Laura on Instragram:   @laurabotten
Laura's Book - A Recipe from Rome
Book Quote shared in the Podcast: by Luca Spaghetti, Anything is Possible

Find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

You can now Support the Podcast and send your encouragement.

© 2023  A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2023

Support the show