Simple Italy

Celebrating Your Inner Italian

  • Home
  • Contact us
  • Links

The Tuscan Bug

Posted June 25, 2013 by Sharon 5 Comments

By Walter Sanders

Sam Hilt and his wife, Pamela Mercer, left Sonoma County to live and work near Siena.

Sam Hilt and his wife, Pamela Mercer, moved from Sonoma County to live and work near Siena.

So what’s a nice Jewish boy from Newark doing in a hospital in Siena, Italy?

Two things: Sam Hilt is recovering from successful heart surgery. Second, he’s using the recuperation time to colorfully describe the effects of an even more life-altering condition—the Tuscan Bug.

Many susceptible people contract the Tuscan Bug when they visit the Renaissance region. Hilt caught a particularly virulent strain during an unplanned jaunt to Italy when he was an undergrad  at Brandeis University.

After returning to the U.S. and earning his degree, Hilt spent nine years in graduate studies gaining a masters in comparative literature, a masters in psychology, and a doctorate in Renaissance studies.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Books, Culture, Language, Lifestyle, Travel, Tuscany Tagged With: Americans in Italy, expatriates living in Italy, Siena, working in Italy

Joyce Heitler’s Inner Italian

Posted January 29, 2013 by Sharon 8 Comments

By Joyce Heitler, guest writer

Joyce Heitler in the southern hill town of Piciotta.

Joyce Heitler in the southern hill town of Pisciotta.

Retired from teaching kindergarten in Chicago after 45 years, I, too, have an Inner Italian.

My husband Frank and I went to Italy about 11 years ago with my son- in-law Renato, who was born in Italy, to see his sick uncle in Tuscany. The uncle lived in a beautiful four-story castle with antique furniture.

We decided to learn Italian so Frank looked up schools on the Internet and found a small language school in Pisciotta, about one hour south of Salerno. The photos looked fabulous and we signed up for a three-week total immersion class. After one week, I fell in love with Pisciotta and the people. Being the impulsive person that I am, I decided to buy an apartment there.

Not many apartments were available for sale so when I went to church I prayed that I would find a place. When I left church, a man, who had heard us speaking English, approached us. His name was Agnello, named after the patron saint of Pisciotta. He had worked in New York for 12 years and then moved back to Pisciotta. I asked him if he knew of anyone who had a house for sale and he said, “Yes, me.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Campania, Culture, Film, Inner Italian Q & A, Language, Lifestyle, Salerno, Travel Tagged With: apartments in Italy, expatriates living in Italy, italian lifestyle

Follow Simple Italy on FacebookFollow Simple Italy on RSS
Lasagne_19 Simple Italy's Greatest Hits at a click!
Lasagne alla Bolognese and more

Recent posts

  • The Hill Towns of Molise
  • Fior di Latte Cheese
  • In the Mood for Molise, Italy
  • Silk from the Sea in Sardinia
  • Driving a Ferrari Spider

Posts by Category

  • Abruzzo (12)
  • AirBnB (1)
  • Amalfi (8)
  • Archeology (3)
  • Architecture (21)
  • Art (19)
  • Artisans (4)
  • Automobiles (1)
  • Bakery (1)
  • Basilicata (3)
  • Bologna (4)
  • Books (21)
  • Calabria (4)
  • Campania (17)
  • Cooking Classes (5)
  • Cremona (2)
  • Culture (174)
  • dreamofitaly (1)
  • Driving in Italy (2)
  • Emilia Romagna (2)
  • Ferrari (1)
  • Ferrari Museum (1)
  • Film (22)
  • Florence (30)
  • Food (134)
  • Fred Plotkin (1)
  • Friuli-Venezia Giulia (2)
  • Gardening (25)
  • Genoa (2)
  • Golf in Italy (1)
  • Guides (1)
  • History (8)
  • Hotels (14)
  • Inner Italian Q & A (11)
  • Italian seafood (7)
  • Italy Artisans (3)
  • Italy restaurants (17)
  • Language (86)
  • Le Marche (4)
  • Lifestyle (113)
  • Liguria (2)
  • Lombardy cooking (5)
  • Lucca (3)
  • Mantua (1)
  • Markets (26)
  • Mediterranean diet (55)
  • Milan (1)
  • Miscellany (86)
  • Modena (1)
  • Molise (3)
  • Mt. Etna (1)
  • Music (9)
  • Naples (2)
  • New Orleans (2)
  • Opera (1)
  • Palermo (3)
  • People (3)
  • Photography (4)
  • Piedmont cooking (1)
  • Puglia (9)
  • Quotes (4)
  • Recipes (64)
  • Rome (8)
  • Salerno (3)
  • Sardinia (4)
  • Sicily (15)
  • Test Drive (1)
  • Testimonials (2)
  • Travel (110)
  • Trentino Alto-Adige (1)
  • Tuscan cooking (17)
  • Tuscany (30)
  • Venice (2)
  • Videos (2)
  • Wine (23)

Inside SimpleItaly

  • American Couple Marries Italian-Style
  • Appearances
  • Contact us
  • Cooking Up an Italian Life
  • Le Marche Tour with Luisa
  • Links
  • Palazzo Donati Sample Itinerary
  • Palazzo Donati Tours
  • Privacy and Site Policies
  • Publications and TV
  • Sharon’s Inner Italian
  • SimpleItaly Adventure in Tuscany Tour
  • Thank You
  • Walter’s Inner Italian

Tags

Abruzzo bucket list Ferragosto Florence Gardening gelato Genoa Inner Italian Italian cooking italian culture italian food Italian food stores italian language italian lifestyle Italian music italian recipes Italian tourism italian travel italian wine Italy Italy travel Lago di Como Lake Como Mediterranean diet mozzarella di bufala Naples tourism Paestum Paolo Conte pasta polenta porcini Puglia Rome Santa Croce Sardegna Sardinia Sicily Southern Italy Stile Mediterraneo Sulmona Tuscan cooking Tuscany Uffizi Gallery Villa Pipistrelli women and travel