Articles tagged with: expat
10 reasons Milan is not just grey and boring
Personally I don’t know Milan well: this is a guest post by an ArtTrav reader, Patricia, who had commented on another article on this blog, from which followed some correspondence in which she declared that she loved Milan, and had chosen to live there on her own, not for a man, but for the city. …
Getting a bra that fits… in Italy
There are some countries in which the bra fitting is a rite of passage and a moment to be repeated every decade or so, or after massive changes to one’s body. There are countries in which bras are more lacy, or more practical, or more flexible in sizing and types. Italy is not one of …
How to put down roots in another country
Someone, perhaps it was I, had the bright idea of the theme of “roots” for this month’s Italy blogging roundtable. As spring starts to rear its little head, I get to thinking of plants, and thus roots, and recall that this is my twelfth spring here. That’s a long time, a third of my life, …
We’re on House Hunters International
Living in Florence has its appeal, but Tommaso and I have always had a thing for Maremma, an area of Tuscany that remains “off the beaten track” due to its apparent lack of much to do except experiencing beautiful nature and beaches. Although Maremma doesn’t have the kind of Renaissance history that first attracted me …
Minestrone: my winter comfort food (Italy blogging roundtable)
I can’t remember what my comfort food was before I moved to Italy, but I think the main characteristics of comfort food have been the same my whole life long: warm, starchy, and mushy. I don’t know how this need developed – it was not from my mother, whose cooking is totally different from mine …
Dear Mom, you must worry about your daughter in Italy
Dear Mom,
You must worry about me living in Italy at times like these. It’s hard to have a daughter in the place that is the object of international ridicule, for it’s hard to justify being here at all. It looks really bad from the outside. I must say that right now, it looks pretty bad from the inside too. The only thing that holds it together is the whole insieme of what put this country together in the first place…
It must be a sign: Driving in Italy
See this sign? It’s the stop sign before a rotonda (roundabout) on my street. It’s a universal sign that means stop. You know that. I know that. And at least 32% of the people who drive past it every day know that.
This stop sign, and others in its category, is optional. I know it looks …
Living in Florence Italy: Welcome to my world
Everyone who hears where I live and what I do for a job (after a stint in study abroad I became a professional blogger) responds in pretty much the same way: “wow, you are so lucky”. It is mostly true that I am lucky, though not all because I live in Florence! In “my world” …
ArtTrav is a blog about expat life, art, and travel in Italy and Europe. I am Alexandra Korey, a Florence-based art historian turned blogger.
My goal is to help travelers and residents like you experience countries through culture and local living. If it takes geeky, long articles to do that, so be it! 
