A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life
A Writer in Italy is about travel, art and life. A place to share the travel journeys and the many discoveries along the way. Italy has many attractions - art, design, architecture, history and the wonderful food culture. Michelle shares her love of books on Italy and the places and regions that have inspired her along the way. Michelle started 'A Writer in Italy Podcast’ to share personal stories and the love of books on Italy that would lead to beautiful conversations with like minded souls who share a deep love affair with Italian Culture and the country as a place of beauty and spiritual renewal. Michelle Johnston lives in Australia with her family.
Episodes
"Stretta la soglia e larga la via, dite la vostra ché ho detto la mia. . .” (Narrow the threshold and broad the way. Now you tell your tale, for I have told you mine )"
- Gina M. Miele, Italian Folklore, Chapter 1 - What is Italian Folk Tradition?
Welcome to Episode #151:
Today we gather to share a conversation about keeping the traditions of ancient Italy alive. Dr Gina M. Miele, Professor of Italian studies at Montclair State ...
"In Italy I have fallen and dreamed and traveled on my own terms. My Italy is endless and a drop of pleasure each day"...
Welcome to Episode #150:
This week I am moved to share a story about my Italy and how it lives with me. I am slightly challenged by social media yet I guess fall somewhere in the middle, not one way or the other…. I was thinking about pop culture, ‘la dolce vita’ Italy and how my travel ex...
"Italiam non sponte sequor - I am pushed toward Italy and it is beyond my control" - Virgil, Aeneid
Welcome to Episode #149:
Today I share some of the signs and symptoms that you may be an Italophile. Someone who loves Italian culture, who enjoys everything that Italy offers and pretty much cannot get enough!
Italophile: noun:
- a person who admires Italian customs, traditions, etc.
Enjoy this episode,
Michelle x
"The history, art, language, beauty, colour and so much to learn, and know. I realise, Italy as a subject is bountiful, rich, alluring. Keep teaching me Italy, I want more" - Michelle Johnston, In the Shadow of a Cypress - An Italian Adventure
Welcome to Episode #148:
Today I share some of the background details of publishing my new print book, In the Shadow of a Cypress that is now available in print, and that is its own kind of bea...
“Learning Italian is about more than memorizing vocabulary. It is an invitation to experience a way of life” - Margherita Berti, Italian History & Culture Through Language
Get prepared for your next Italian Journey with this wonderful book and guide - Italian History & Culture Through Language by Italian Linguistics Teacher and Podcast host Margherita Berti PhD.
Today Margherita shares the release of her new book ...
"But now my will and my desire were turned, as wheels that move in equilibrium, by love that moves the sun and other stars" - Dante Alighieri, Canto XXXIII
"Welcome to Episode #146:
Dante Alighieri wrote the Divine Comedy Divina Commedia over many years and completed the work late in his life. He died a few years later in Ravenna, Italy.
Many find comfort in his words, “In the middle of the journey of our life I came to my...
"There is only one way, and that is your way" - CG Jung
Welcome to Episode #145:
This share is all about reflecting on a recent milestone of seven years of podcasting and sharing stories and conversations about this Italian Love Affair - it has been a journey of living between two worlds and cultivating a sense of meaning from my journeys to Italy and being at home in Australia.
I share how my books on Italian culture and living...
“France had long been at the center of her philosophy. She had made France a touchstone in her writing, in which she alchemised life, love, and food in a literary genre of her own invention” - Luke Barr on MFK Fisher, Provence 1970
Welcome to Episode #144:
Today I share why going to Europe for art, writing, philosophy and liberation has been a necessary evolution for many artists and writers. I contemplate my own journey ...
"There is magic in cooking, and in cooking Italian food there is alchemy" - Old World Italian by Mimi Thorisson
Since our lives contain multitudes, yes an American poet once said that, I feel to step away from the noise is to disarm the outside influences that are at times necessary and sometimes it is just kind of ridiculous. So the remedy is to open a cookbook and read a recipe and make something beautiful.
I am an instinctua...
"I am reading six books at once, the only way of reading: since, as you will agree, one book is merely a note to another book" - Virginia Woolf
Today I share some beautiful moments while reading a few books on my table that have given much pause for thought. So I open a few on the fly and chat about the book, the author and what I Loved about the pages....
Teach Us To Sit Still by Tim Parks
A Place in the World by Frances Mayes
Enchant...
"A soul's journey through this uniquely itchy epoch requires a far more nourishing approach" - Sarah Wilson, This One Wild and Precious Life
Sometimes you cannot see the forest for the trees, but that is the writers life. It is a process. And maybe it will all work out in the end. And if it doesn’t work out, well I guess, it is not the end.
Today I share some of my trials and tribulation of the creative life and committin...
“The large paintings envelop the viewer and invite him or her in, it is an invitation to a self contained world where one can lose oneself and perhaps in the process find oneself. And for all their grandest of scale it is an intimate experience, a world unique to that particular encounter” - Christopher Rothko, Mark Rothko and the Inner World
Welcome to Episode #140:
In Italy, Mark Rothko (1903-1970) found what he w...
"Fortunately for us art and travel lovers, science has caught up with what we have felt inside, what we have experienced" - Michelle Johnston
In more recent years the science of ‘neuro-aesthetics’ has given us much to ponder in terms of understanding the importance of art and beauty in our lives. I share my personal experience and sound research on the positive side effects that seeking art, travel and beauty in our live...
"Everything had been made honestly, quickly, without frills, but as it should be. It was wholesome, life giving...We had eaten well; we felt well. As we sat in the piazza inhaling our black half inches of double espressi, I felt very happy" - Sybille Bedford, Pleasures and Landscapes
Welcome to Episode #138:
Today I share some gastronomic highlights from the table in Italy. Italian food has so much to offer, and is a wonderful portal...
"Happiness is a byproduct ultimately of being in right relationship with your own soul” - James Hollis
Welcome to Episode #137:
There are places in Italy that are so beautiful they make you want to weep. When life occasionally does not go to plan, sometimes you just need to throw the cards in the air and do something for yourself. When circumstance and fate isn’t favoured, here and there it is best to make a distinc...
"Italy, you win!" - J.J Martin, Mamma Milano
Welcome to Episode #136:
Today I share some inspiration from the book Mamma Milano by J.J Martin.
J.J Martin is a visionary, creative and designer that lives in Milan. She moved to Italy many years ago and later started her fabulous fashion empire and lifestyle brand La Double J. Today is just some musing over this beautiful book, making a life in Italy and her vibrant world of ...
"Italians strongly believe that being surrounded by beauty is beneficial to a happier life" - Riccardo Illy
Welcome to Episode #135,
Milan is a city of Art, Design, Architecture, Innovation and Commerce. It is full of great art and history. And a wonderful place to discover more about Italian culture.
Here is Part 2 on some of the fabulous places you can visit in Milan Italy - Da Vinci’s Last Supper and suburb Museums &...
"In Milan, one feels at once the charm of a great city and the sweetness of Italian life" - Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle)
Welcome to Episode #134:
Today I share some fabulous things to do if you are on a budget or just a savy traveler and why Milano should not be ignored. It is one of the most charming and underrated cities in Italy and very beautiful too. So I want to share my favourite things to do for free and what to eat. There is...
"All I wanted was time" - Tracey Emin, Strozzi Gallery Documentary
Welcome to Episode #133
Today I share a travel story for International Women’s Day about a glorious art and life moment in Florence from 2025.
There are beautiful things that happen along the way that stay with you. I reflect on my experience and joy while walking in the Centro Storico of Florence and discovering that there was an exhibition of Tracey Emin...
"The let them theory is about freedom" - Mel Robbins, Let Them Theory
Welcome to Episode #132,
I wanted to share this personal story of something that shifted in me in a great way to create an expansive and special experience while traveling in Italy I thought might be helpful for other people on their travel (and life) journeys, particularly if solo traveling.
Enjoy this share,
Michelle x
Book: Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
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