The ITALIAN DISPATCH By Eric J Lyman
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✍️ How to Offend a Sommelier
More than 20 years after passing the exam, I still have questions
10 hrs ago
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Eric J Lyman
25
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The Dispatch Digest: The Comments Talked Back
A month of essays -- and readers who finished writing them
Jun 2
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Eric J Lyman
30
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May 2026
✍️ The 40-Minute Problem
Romans overlook the hill towns in their back yard. That’s good news for everyone else
May 26
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Eric J Lyman
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The Zebra-Print Shoe
On a road near Rome, I found a woman more frightened of speaking than of dying
May 19
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Eric J Lyman
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✍️ Rome, from the Right Angle
A year of looking at my home city through new eyes
May 12
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Eric J Lyman
61
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Two Countries, One Warning
A visit to my mother’s homeland made me worry more about Italy’s burgeoning tourist economy
May 5
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Eric J Lyman
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April 2026
✍️ The Writer Who Knew Too Much
A story about losing my nerve among the literary ghosts around the Spanish Steps
Apr 28
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59
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A Thousand-Year-Old Fight
From Napoleon to Trump, powerful men have tried to bring the papacy to heel. It rarely works.
Apr 21
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Eric J Lyman
55
38
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✍️ The Questions I Didn’t Prepare For
Monarchy, relationships, and a bullet: one evening in Florence
Apr 14
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Eric J Lyman
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You Won’t Know Until Later
The restaurant you won’t go back to, and the endings you forget
Apr 7
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Eric J Lyman
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March 2026
✍️ Italy Explained
A foolproof handbook a day early, because why waste time?
Mar 31
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Eric J Lyman
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Saved by a Parking Lot
In Rome, the ancient dead survive by chance
Mar 24
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Eric J Lyman
58
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