Taking a teen to Italy

Dream #1: Take Leo to Italy.

Dream #2: Write about taking Leo to Italy.

And I'm thrilled to say I've now done both, and the writing is no longer just on this blog but on CNN's site, under CNN Travel where I'm working as a contract editor.

Here's the link:

https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/16/travel/mission-mom-son-love-italy-compromises

I had to leave out the moment where he might have lied to a nun in a church -- in Italian -- but the rest is all there. (It's not clear if she was a nun but it is clear he said he was "nove" years old when really he was "dieci.")

Note, the story was chosen to go out just to subscribers.

I am not a born saleswoman -- I typically don't want to obligate someone to spend money on my behalf, if I can help it, and so it's not natural to ask you to sign up for CNN's subscription.

But the people who decided news on the web should be free weren't in the news business so it wasn't their decision to make.

News sites need paid subscribers because the stories cost something to produce. I try to do my part: in addition to 7-day-a-week home delivery of The New York Times, I have a digital subscription to the Boston Globe and I also subscribe to The New Yorker, the Smithsonian, National Geographic and Connecticut magazine (and I have a personal subscription account to CNN, even though I get it for free at work).

I'd love it if you could read about our adventures in Italy, including the time Leo met Dante (the dog)!

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Best piazza in Florence?

My (other) sister is in Florence this week and as I was mulling over where she might go, I thought to say that Piazza della Repubblica (top photo) is my favorite piazza in Dante's old city.

How many times did I walk through it, late at night, as I headed home from the pub?

(There's only one pub in Florence). 

It's where Floriano, Giovanni and I saw the movie "Big Night" and where the big bookstore is. Home to the "big four" old-school caffes, including Caffe Paszkowski, which is my favorite but you won't go wrong at any of them (supremely elegant inside, phenomenal people-watching outside) and afterwards, you have some of the best shopping in Florence right across the way (or a half block away).

And if you time it right, you'll see the weekly flower market, which is held under the porticos on the side of the piazza away from the Duomo (see a cool photo of the market here).

There's also a carousel there now, but that's new.

Of course, as soon as I call it the best piazza in Florence, I remember how much I love Piazza della Signoria (called Florence's living room), which is home to one of the most iconic buildings in the city (see the photo below) and also the Rivoire, another old-school caffe that shouldn't be missed. 

Having said that, how could I forget the millions of hours I've spent in Piazza Santo Spirito (home to my favorite restaurant in Florence and my father's favorite church, plus the pensione where Daddy stayed when he came to visit me en route from Russia -- cue the James Bond theme song now).

Maybe I'm just trying to suggest that every visitor to Florence spend time in the piazzas? All of these piazzas, plus:

Piazza Santissima Annunziata

Piazza dei Ciompi

Piazza Beccaria

Piazza del Carmine

As it happens, I love piazzas so much that I wrote about them for CNN Travel.

Three cheers to any American city breaking ground on a true piazza today. If done right, it's an instant gathering spot.

Buonviaggio!

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