Destination: Rome

NYT on Luca Spaghetti’s ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ Spin-off Memoir: ‘Pasta, Pasta, Pasta!’

Who is Luca Spaghetti? In case you’ve forgotten, he’s one of the dreamy Italian men who shows Elizabeth Gilbert around town during the Roman section of her bestselling memoir. He’s also, now, an author—his own memoir, Un Amico Italiano: Eat, Pray, Love in Rome, was released this spring, and the New York Times had a really funny gem of a review.

Here’s Sam Anderson:

It has a strange integrity: the purity of an actual, unremarkable guy telling his actual, (mostly) unremarkable story. Aside from a few Gilbertesque cutesy touches (“That Marlboro tasted a lot like life”), there’s no pretense of educating humanity or saving a soul or discovering a self. It’s just: Hey world, this crazy thing happened where someone put me in a book—so here’s my story! Pasta, pasta, pasta! Spaghetti’s only ulterior motive is right on the surface: he hopes the memoir will make James Taylor, the American folk musician he reveres above all other humans, notice him.

I count myself among the legions of EPL fans, but even as a cheerleader I can’t help thinking this is all getting a bit surreal.


World Hum Travel Movie Club: ‘Eat, Pray, Love’

A big-screen incarnation of author Elizabeth Gilbert heads to Italy, India and Indonesia. Eva Holland and Eli Ellison go along for the ride.

Read More »


World Travel Watch: Deadly Heat Wave in Moscow, Underground Colosseum Tours and More

Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news

Read More »


World Travel Watch: Dress Code in Vatican City, Taxi Kidnappings in Nicaragua and More

Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news

Read More »


Must I Get ‘Off the Beaten Path’ When I Travel?

Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel and the world

Read More »


World Travel Watch: Kidnapping in Mauritania, Border Hassles in Mexico and More

Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news

Read More »


Fall Foliage Around the World

Central Park, New York Photo of Central Park, New York City, by joiseyshowaa via Flickr (Creative Commons)

From Osaka to Chicago, seven photos of turning leaves around the shrinking planet

Read More »


Interview With Nicholas Kristof: Traveling and Tweeting Under ‘Half the Sky’

Nicholas Kristof Photo by Fred R. Conrad

David Frey asks the author about his dream vacation, Twitter, travel to hellholes and the trip that changed his life

Read More »


Has the World’s First Novelty Restaurant Been Discovered?

Looks like it. Archaeologists in Rome claim to have unearthed a circular rotating dining room used by Emperor Nero, proving, as Felicity Cloake writes in the Guardian, that “when it comes to naff eateries, anything we can do, the toga wearers did first.”

The AP has a proper news report on the discovery:


Skip the Colosseum? Give Prague a Pass?

Skip the Colosseum? Give Prague a Pass? Photo by tinou bao via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Eva Holland sees an emerging trend in the world of travel advice, and she's not happy about it

Read More »


‘Eat, Pray, Love’ Update: Eating in Rome With Julia Roberts

‘Eat, Pray, Love’ Update: Eating in Rome With Julia Roberts Photo by fotologic via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by fotologic via Flickr (Creative Commons)

The actress has been spotted at restaurants and markets around the city as filming for the first phase of Eat, Pray, Love gets under way. Meanwhile, since our last update, Billy Crudup, Viola Davis and (rumor has it) James Franco have all signed on to the project—fine additions to an already outstanding supporting cast.


Travel Movie Watch: ‘When in Rome’

Girl goes to Rome. Girl meets boy in Rome. Magic Roman fountain causes boy and girl to fall in love. Yes, the latest flick in the grand tradition of movies about young Americans finding romance in Europe is en route. The latest incarnation stars Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel and the aforementioned magic fountain. Here’s the trailer:

Read More »


Interview with David Farley: ‘An Irreverent Curiosity’

The World Hum contributor's new book illuminates a bizarre mystery in an Italian village. Jim Benning learns more.

Read More »


Athletes Who Say Idiotic Things About Travel: Brandon Jennings

The quote for this inaugural Athletes Who Say Idiotic Things About Travel post comes from Brandon Jennings, who played basketball in Italy last year and hopes to play in the NBA in the upcoming season. The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg asked him what he learned during his season in Italy.

Read More »


‘Angels & Demons’ has Arrived—and so Have the Travel Writers

‘Angels & Demons’ has Arrived—and so Have the Travel Writers Publicity still from "Angels & Demons" (via IGN)
Publicity still from “Angels & Demons” (via IGN)

If you’re not interested in Dan Brown or the film adaptation of his hit novel, “Angels & Demons,” you may want to avoid the travel pages for the next few days—I haven’t seen travel-movie-mania on this scale since last year’s Sex and the City movie transfixed shoe-loving travel writers everywhere.

If, however, you’re keen to explore “Dan Brown’s Rome,” read on for the best of the near-ubiquitous coverage.

Read More »