Writing Residencies in Italy

Lake Garda region

Firenze

Firenze

This is a cross-over post that pulls together my love of Italy and writing. While I'm recently back from the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, I'm always plotting of ways to return to Italy, particularly
to write. In fact, Bread Loaf has a program in Sicily.

To search for writers' residencies abroad, you might start with a search on the Alliance of Artists Communities. For other useful resources, see the links under "Conferences, Residencies & More" on my writing coach blog.

Here (and listed below on the right side of the blog) are some amazing looking programs in Italy:

Civitella Ranieri

American Academy in Rome

The Bellagio Center

MIRA

Have you attended a program (writing or otherwise) in Italy? What did you think of it? I'd love to hear from you in the comments section below.

Buon Ferragosto!

Mid-August Lunch Trailer

Ferragosto, an Italian holiday celebrating the assumption of the Virgin Mary (originally there were other reasons to celebrate the date), is August 15th.

A great phrase in Italian is "Fare la ponte." The literal meaning is "to make the bridge." Colloquially, the phrase signifies taking extra days off in order to link a holiday with a weekend and have a longer vacation. Good idea, right?

While I can't exactly justify a three week bridge because of a one day holiday in country where I don't live, I'll be taking a bit of an internet pausa. I am off to the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference in Vermont. If you are interested in my life as a writer, I invite you to visit my writing coach blog.

In the meanwhile, you might celebrate the holiday yourself by watching the movie Mid-August Lunch that takes place on Ferragosto in Rome. It is a lovely, tender movie available streaming on Netflix.

A settembre!

Semolina Flour: Bread

Before

After

Semolina Flour from Bob's Red Mill

Semolina flour is used for pastas, breads and other dishes. I followed this multi-step recipe to prepare two loaves. I rolled the dough (much like this) and then baked the loaves. Later I experimented and cooked one loaf without rolling the dough. That was a hard, dense mistake.

The end result was a really lovely bread that sliced nicely (rather than coming apart at the rolled seams, as I’d feared) with a crispy crust.

Full Disclosure: I received the flour for review from Bob’s Red Mill (thank you!); I was not compensated for this post. All opinions here are entirely my own.