Susan Van Allen

Once spring is near, I start dreaming about Rome…and artichoke season. Here’s an excerpt from “Hungry for Italy”: “Order carciofi,” (pronounced car-CHO-fee), is what I tell travelers who ask for advice about Rome. Sure, you can run around oohing and aahing over the Forum, Colosseum, and Sistine Chapel, but for the True Roman Experience, you have to stop and taste the artichokes. From late February to early May, overflowing crates of these green and purple-tinged beauties from surrounding farmlands begin to appear in the Eternal City. Signoras in smocks sit in the open air Campo dei Fiori market, peeling Carciofi Romaneschi with their tiny knives, as if they’re made of butter. InRead More →

Author in Bologna Cooking Class

It smells good in here: high note of nose-tingling parmigiano, base of salty cured salumi, and centering it all is rich meaty ragu, the sauce this city of Bologna is famous for. Here in Bologna’s Quadrilatero (market area), I’ve entered the Tamburini shop — a temple of deliciousness that’s been beloved and family run since 1932. I was lured in by window displays of humongous hanging prosciutto, balsamic vinegar in curvy bottles, honey-colored rounds of cheese. I line up behind a gang of teenagers on their school lunch break, grab a plastic tray to slide along the counter and order what everybody else is having: aRead More →

Ciao Amici, I send you and yours my good thoughts and prayers during these challenging days. One of the comforts I’ve been grateful for lately has been recipes from my maternal line and from cooks I’ve met over many delicious years of traveling in Italy. Along with great flavors, they’ve wrapped me up in beautiful, rich memories, that connect me to Italy’s abundant heart and soul. I’ve collected some of my favorite Italy adventures into my latest book, Hungry for Italy. It’s a chance to immerse yourself in the flavors of the Bel Paese, with stories that range from stirring risotto in Milan, to harvestingRead More →

As more and more travelers flock to Italy, more and more big tour groups traipsing behind screaming-flag-waving guides appear…This is NOT what you want for your Italian vacation. It’s well worth paying the extra euros for a small group tour or a private guide to have an enriching experience of Italy’s world-beloved masterpieces and places.  You have lots of choices when it comes to guides, especially in the big cities. All licensed guides have gone through years of study and rigorous exams to earn their badges, but there’s a huge range of differences out there between great guides and the ones who are…well let’s be nice andRead More →

I can hardly settle myself down to write this. I’m immersed in the throes of Ferrante Fever here in Hollywood…watching trailers incessantly, reading reviews, studying photos of  HBO’s “My Brilliant Friend”–-that premieres tonight… Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels took hold of my life a few years back, when I devoured the series in a staying-up-late fury, turning pages, promising myself I’d go to bed…maybe after the next chapter…or the next… When the HBO show was announced recently, I started listening to “My Brilliant Friend” on Audible just to refresh my memory…and now my walks have become very looong…listening riveted to the whole series again…that would be meRead More →

Ciao Amici! I’m so grateful that 2016 included the release of the Third Edition of “100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go.” Wonderful surprises have come into my life since this book first hit the stands in 2009. It’s been thrilling to hear from travelers who enjoyed discovering new places and experiences through its pages, and that the book added so much fun to their Italian travels. Here’s a Sneak Preview/Excerpt… It’s the Perfect Gift for the Italophile in your life… AVAILABLE at your Local Bookstore, AMAZON, and BARNES & NOBLE PREFACE I fell in love with Italy at a dining room table in Newark,Read More →

We’ll continue our Golden Days in the southern region of Basilicata. My first visit to this beautiful under-touristed region was random. I had plans to visit my friend Tania of In Italy Tours in Calabria, and found I had a few days gap in my traveling schedule. Sitting with my laptop in Rome, musing over the train route,  inspiration came: Go To Your Pappa Land! My grandfather was born in Basilicata, on a farm in Vaglio, near Potenza, then worked in a pasticceria in Naples before boarding a ship for the American Dream. I have letters he wrote when he’d go back to visit, and a necklaceRead More →

I’m grateful to have found a Sardinia Travel Company, called Gaveena, Your Mate in Sardinia. On the island of Sardinia, Gaveena is the most typical female name, and since I’m drawn to all the ways the feminine is celebrated in Italy, I’m drawn to this company. They offer a great range of tours in Sardinia, from excursions on the seasides to culinary and archaeological packages, and trips that bring visitors to the interior wilderness areas. Manuel Cazzaniga is a travel specialist who founded Gaveena. He moved to Sardinia, from Monza, in the Lombardy region, about two years ago, and this company was inspired by, in his words,Read More →

A few year’s back, I had the pleasure of meeting Pietro Navarra in Los Angeles. He’d been in a bookstore, found 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go, and liked it so much (I love that Men enjoy it too!), that he wrote to me and said we should meet so I could sign his copy. A delicious dinner at Terroni followed, where I found out about Pietro’s Italy — his wonderful Italian travel company that combines his passions for Italy and the USA. Having grown up in Bologna and traveled in Italy extensively, Pietro creates customized itineraries for travelers, bringing to each one his uniqueRead More →

 Coming in October…A New Book!   Following the critically acclaimed 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go, Susan Van Allen adds new gems to her selection of the best spots for female travelers in Italy’s most popular cities, (Rome, Florence, and Venice), along with enticing Golden Day itineraries to make vacation dreams come true. Like a savvy traveler girlfriend whispering in your ear, she guides readers to masterpieces where women are glorified — from Rome’s Pieta to Florence’s Birth of Venus, best spots for wine tasting, chocolate, and gelato, artisan shopping experiences to meet leather craftsmen or glass blowers, and places for adventures — fromRead More →