Lucky month, Courma and Trapani, and my review of Ambition Monster

Napoli Notizie #11

In March I really settled into the Italian rythym. One weekend we drove to Vietri, bought some ceramics, had a long seafood lunch, took a walk followed by a beach nap, had some gelato in the piazza, and went home. It felt so lazy and perfect.

We also went up north to catch an Italian ski weekend. To say I loved Courmayeur, or “Courma” as the locals call it, is an understatement. Our hotel was charming. We spent each evening reading by the fire after an exhausting day on the slopes. The food in Valle D’Aosta was heavy and mouth-watering. We are so used to our Southern Italian olive oil and tomato sauce “light” cooking, that when we are presented with polenta smothered in butter, meat, and cheese, we are really out of our depth. I had so many delicious pastas, like agnolotti stuffed with meat or rye pasta with sausage and topped with alpine cheese. Luckily, spending all day outside in nature both revived my soul and helped us work off the heavy caloric intake.

We also took a last-minute trip to Trapani, Italy, and stayed in an agriturismo with donkeys, peacocks, dogs, cats, bees, and freshly squeezed orange juice in the mornings. We achieved a record step count walking the entirety of the Zingaro Nature Reserve and back, with a mid-day reward of seafood pasta.

Meanwhile, here in Napoli, spring has sprung. It rains a lot but my husband says the city needs a good washing down. We’re spending more time outside basking in caffes in the sunlight, going on long walks on the lungo mare, and opening the windows to let in the breeze.

Let’s dig into updates on my core values of writing and matrescence, dive into why April has recently been my luckiest month, and review a memoir I absolutely loved called, “Ambition Monster” by

Jenn Romolini

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