The ITALIAN DISPATCH By Eric J Lyman
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The Maestro’s Accidental Friend
It took twelve years for me to understand a dedication written in Franco Zeffirelli's unsteady hand
Jul 21
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The Second Alien Invasion
One arrived with claws. The second comes with a payment screen.
Jul 14
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✍️ Beauty and the Seven Beasts
On treating a country as scenery and its people as stage props
Jul 7
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June 2026
Ditch the Apps. Find a Dog.
The best local advice may come from the person at the end of a leash
Jun 30
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✍️ Elon Musk’s Paper Empire
What Roman history tells us about the difference between fortune and power
Jun 23
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A Thoughtful Tourist
An essay about borrowing and caring for places we’ll never own
Jun 16
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✍️ How to Offend a Sommelier (without meaning to)
More than 20 years after passing the exam, I still have questions
Jun 9
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Dispatch Digest: The Comments Talked Back
A month of essays -- and readers who finished writing them
Jun 2
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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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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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✍️ Rome, from the Right Angle
A year of looking at my home city through new eyes
May 12
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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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