Rebecca Winke

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Rebecca Winke – Travel, Food&Wine, and Culture Writer

Rebecca moved to Italy from Chicago in 1993 and spends her time writing about the lovely country she now calls home for various print and online publications while wondering what strange winds blew an urbanite to a tiny hilltown in Umbria.

“Insatiably curious about the world and its people, and a born storyteller, I’m always looking for my next discovery and a compelling way to share it that makes readers chuckle, shake their heads, and book a flight.”

 

Articles by rebeccawinke

Wed, 04/21/2021 - 10:46
My sons have grown up in Italy but are completely bilingual in English (ahem, American English, that is) and Italian. When they were younger, this pro…
Wed, 04/14/2021 - 11:19
One of the pillars of daily Italian life can also be one of the most harrowing experiences for the uninitiated, a veritable minefield of potential cul…
Wed, 03/17/2021 - 01:47
I have two teenagers in my house, so I hear slang (in both English and Italian) a lot and I won’t lie: I can’t keep up with most of it. Slang is the s…
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 00:50
Just like the umlaut (those two dots over some vowels) in German and the tilde (the squiggly line over the letter n) in Spanish, Italian has a couple…
Thu, 02/18/2021 - 00:22
Usually, coming to the end of something is, if not sad, a bit bittersweet. But nothing has been usual about the past 12 months and I think we can all…
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 08:05
It’s Friday, so it must be time for a new government in Italy.  That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but Italy has had more than 60 changes of gover…
Thu, 01/21/2021 - 08:11
Years ago, when I was still reading aloud to my sons, we were deep into the Harry Potter books. After finishing the iconic chapter describing Harry’s…
Thu, 01/07/2021 - 10:30
In our family, we ski mainly to eat. And, judging by the hordes of people elbowing themselves into the buffet line come 1pm in every rifugio (Alpine l…
Thu, 12/10/2020 - 03:31
With December comes the most important month for gift exchanges on the Italian calendar, beginning with the Festa dell’Immacolata on December 8th - of…
Thu, 11/26/2020 - 09:55
Once your language skills clear the initial hurdles of basic grammar rules and a vocabulary large enough to navigate daily life, it’s time to start wo…
Thu, 11/12/2020 - 08:17
My first years in Italy were spent in Rome and rural Umbria, two areas of the Bel Paese in which swearing is a bit of a competitive sport and the thre…
Thu, 10/22/2020 - 04:22
Time may be relative, but 2020 has stretched, condensed, and emptied it of meaning like no other year. Months feel like years, days fly by in what see…
Thu, 10/08/2020 - 03:35
There may be differences in how Italy and countries across the globe have dealt with the coronavirus pandemic this year, but one thing has brought the…
Thu, 10/01/2020 - 04:25
Of all the adventures that await in Italy, from climbing Renaissance-era bell towers to sampling authentic Neapolitan pizza, perhaps none is more thri…
Thu, 09/17/2020 - 06:53
There is something almost Buddhist about beginning to speak a second language. With a limited grasp of verb tenses, you are neither caught in the past…
Tue, 09/15/2020 - 04:00
From the pristine Tirino Valley to the towering heights of Gran Sasso: an eco-sustainable itinerary in one of Italy’s most picturesque corners. Known…
Thu, 09/03/2020 - 04:58
Of all the adventures that await in Italy, from climbing Renaissance-era bell towers to sampling authentic Neapolitan pizza, perhaps none is more thri…
Thu, 08/13/2020 - 08:47
Once I was interviewed for a podcast, and when I heard the episode air a few days later, I was so impressed! I sounded like the most articulate, infor…
Thu, 07/30/2020 - 11:10
In a recent speech, Italy’s Health Minister Roberto Speranza shared his belief that the first half of 2020 has been the most difficult in the history…
Tue, 07/21/2020 - 08:19
Though Umbria has been known as “the next Tuscany” for decades, this small region in the center of Italy has managed to dodge the bullet of tourist cr…