Life in Italy Originally published in BoomerCafe.com Nancy and John Petralia are two lucky baby boomers: although their home is in Ft. Myers, Florida, they spent a year living in Italy.  John even co-wrote a book about it, called Not in a Tuscan Villa. But what he has...

Writing can be a lot of fun. Or not. John and I have both been writing most of our lives, although not the kind of writing most people want to read. Business writing, a lot of it marketing copy. For a long time, reviewing the books we read was our creative writing...

Italy is obsessed with aesthetics. Every shop window, no matter how small, is beautifully arranged. Cities and villages aren’t cluttered with utility poles because everything is underground. Italians dress with studied personal style. The county lauds architecture...

Truffles, the marvelous, musky fungus that can be shaved over scrambled eggs, pasta, or fries, tucked under the skin of a roasted chicken, infused into expensive oils, or folded into sabayon for and extraordinary dessert, are hard to find. You need a sensitive nose....