Marjorie Shaw's Insider's Italy

28/09/2026

https://www.insidersitaly.com/autumn-in-italy-is-what-summer-should-be/

Why September and October may be Italy’s perfect months: warm days, quiet beaches, harvests, truffles, festivals, olive oil, and fewer crowds.

14/09/2026

And as happens all across Italy in restaurants and bars, sometimes even twice a day : another menu is made for the patrons' delight and consideration.

09/09/2026

If you have not already, please join me in the Piazza that is my Inside Italy substack ! https://insidersitaly.substack.com/

29/08/2026

https://www.insidersitaly.com/etruscan-travel-italy/

I have been fascinated by the Etruscans for most of my life, and they are one of the many reasons I have always believed that traveling in Italy should begin with what genuinely interests you and not with a checklist of places you are supposed to see.

The current Etruscan exhibition at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco has brought them back into the spotlight, and it seemed an appropriate moment to share why I think their world is so worth seeking out : in museums, but especially in the landscapes where they actually lived.

Here is my latest piece for Insiders Italy.

Inspired by San Francisco’s Etruscan exhibition? Discovering Etruscan sites in Tuscany and Lazio with Insider’s Italy

11/08/2026

82 years ago today, Florence was liberated from N**i occupation.
On August 11, 1944, the sound of the Martinella bell ringing from the Arnolfo Tower atop the Palazzo Vecchio marked the end of a dark time and a new beginning, as partisan forces and Allied troops pushed the German army out of Florence.
Today, the city remembers those who fought for its freedom.

Here pictured: Mayor Sara Funaro marking the anniversary.

09/08/2026

https://www.insidersitaly.com/insiders-italy-autumn-winter-insider-travel/

The Italy That Comes Back to You | Insider’s Italy

06/08/2026

https://insidersitaly.substack.com/p/following-their-gaze

In these days of great heat across Italy, in a summer that seems never to end, it is more difficult to catch people’s eyes.

30/07/2026

Fascist Italy tried to separate Italians from their pasta.

Extraordinarily, that's exactly what Mussolini's regime tried to do.

In the 1930s, Fascist officials promoted rice instead, insisting that pasta made Italians sluggish and unfit for the new Italy they wanted to build. It was one of the regime's more bizarre campaigns, and it completely misunderstood what pasta had already become.

When Mussolini was arrested on July 25, 1943, one anti-Fascist family didn't celebrate with speeches or parades. They borrowed butter, collected Parmigiano, cooked enormous pots of pasta, and served it free in the village piazza to anyone who came, even former Fascists. It's one of the most remarkable food stories I've ever encountered, and it's the subject of my newest Inside Italy essay.

Now a call to action and a call to the table : I'd love to hear your story !

Share a photo of the best plate of pasta you've ever eaten, or simply the last one you enjoyed ! Tell us where you were, what you ordered (or cooked!), and why you still remember it.

Let's turn the comments into a celebration of Italy, and of resistance.. one plate of pasta at a time !

You can read the full story in my latest Inside Italy substack at ....

Resistance is an everyday act, and there is no reason why Pastasciutta Antifascista needs to be limited to a single day.

28/07/2026

https://insidersitaly.substack.com/p/what-we-no-longer-know-how-to-see

It is copyright protected, so please click this link to see Mario Carbone, itinerant eyeglass repairman (“occhialaro”) in Piazza Trilussa, 1956Thanks for reading Inside Italy!

25/07/2026

https://open.substack.com/pub/insidersitaly/p/before-the-collapse-an-american-childhood?r=5qqj5&utm_medium=ios

Before the Collapse: An American Childhood in Fascist Rome