The ITALIAN DISPATCH By Eric J Lyman

✍️ Italy, According to Online Reviewers

'A big pile of rocks,’ ‘gratuitous nudity,’ and the risks of the 'influencer echo chamber'

Mar 10 • Eric J Lyman

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Italy, At Close Range

Forget the big crowds and ignore pronouncements; the best of Italy comes from small interactions

Mar 3 • Eric J Lyman

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February 2026

✍️ The Backward Games

Improvisation defined the Milan-Cortina Olympics -- and its limits were plain to see

Feb 24 • Eric J Lyman

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What To Do About Airbnb?

What does 'living like a local' mean if the locals are gone?

Feb 17 • Eric J Lyman

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✍️ Everyone Was Trying to Help

My many Italian misadventures with false friends

Feb 10 • Eric J Lyman

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A Wrinkle in Stone

Rome once valued age and experience. Now it’s valued for them

Feb 3 • Eric J Lyman

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January 2026

✍️ Rome in One Day?

A serious answer to the wrong question

Jan 27 • Eric J Lyman

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Not Up to You

Why the neighborhood coffee bar decides whether or not you belong

Jan 20 • Eric J Lyman

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✍️ Confession of a Grape Thief

Lessons from my unremarkable experiment in winemaking

Jan 13 • Eric J Lyman

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America in Italy; Italy in America

What two centuries of 'cultural borrowing' got right, and what going wrong

Jan 6 • Eric J Lyman

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December 2025

✍️ The Last Paparazzo?

An evening with Rino Barillari and the instincts that shaped Italy's celebrity culture

Dec 16, 2025 • Eric J Lyman

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The Venetian Time Machine

Personal Notes from the Quiet Season in the Canal City

Dec 9, 2025 • Eric J Lyman

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