Mimi Torchia Boothby

Ilenia – Facebook is better than the telephone

I have had the good fortune to have found lots of really nice relatives in Italy but for years I have not had a good way to get in touch with them. I wrote letters that were never answered. I made phone calls and could not understand what people were saying because the lines were…

November 2, 2010

Milanese little shop of horrors

There was just one day for me to walk the streets of Milan, check out the little shops, and hang out in the piazzas so I was very happy when a native Milanese who worked with Elena drew me a map. “Go here, there’s lots of things to see.” Armed with that little map, I…

October 28, 2010

Pasquale Riccio and Angelina Grillo

1989 was the year I fulfilled my dream to travel to Italy to visit my relatives. I had been writing to a cousin named Teresa Riccio for several years and my destination was her house in Sersale, Catanzaro, Calabria. Her parents, Pasquale Riccio (Riccio means hedgehog) and Angelina Grillo (Grillo means cricket) put us up…

October 25, 2010

Santina and the spatulas

Santina is a cousin by marriage. She was born in Sellia Marina and now lives in Sersale, where she was recently widowed. She has a heart of gold, is a little shy, but kind, hard working, and modest. On this last visit, I stayed with her at her house and she shared her daily routines…

October 21, 2010

Mail art – one of the things I love

If you are so fortunate as to get personalized mail from me, it probably won’t look like a plain white envelope with a generic stamp on it. It will probably involve at least 4 stamps, and if I have any time at all, it will also involve watercolor paint, crayons or color pencils. Sometimes, for…

October 18, 2010