"A charming and informative book for anyone interested in Italy." "Italian in spirit"		For almost fifteen years, March has signified not only the coming of spring, but my husband Al’s and my pilgrimage to Italy. After more than a dozen trips, Italy is no longer foreign to us. We are comfortable there, and its cities, villages and culture seem part of us, even though we know ours is a fringe position and that, as visitors, we have the luxury of a romantic and imaginative perspective. Still, we are pleased that we can stand at a counter in a café in a small town and drink cappuccino with the local folks, pretending that, in our jeans and black jackets, we blend in. We feel as if we belong, at least for the moment. With each trip we discover more history, more art, more patterns of culture, but there is always more to learn, especially how to live life. We leave our Type-A personalities at home and live in the moment, becoming less aware of watching the clock or being productive or getting things exactly right. In Italy’s cities and towns there is a custom of “passeggiata,” a kind of walk or stroll, a walk for its own sake, often arm-in-arm with another. Our trips to Italy together have become a kind of passeggiata in which we walk together literally and figuratively learning how to be, not only a couple, but part of the world again. “Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery