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Category Archives: La Casa Pico
Until next time
Yesterday was our last full day in Pico which meant cleaning, eating what remained in the fridge, packing and preparing the house to be vacant for another year. We took some final measurements of a few spaces to research items … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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Feast of St Rocco
The town of Pico, and towns throughout Italy, celebrate the feast of St Rocco on August 16. St Rocco is a healer who traveled across Europe caring for people with the plague. Legend has it, St Rocco himself was also … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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Ferragosto
August 15 is the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and in Italy, they celebrate Ferragosto along with the feast day. It’s national holiday with Latin roots with “feraie” meaning “day of rest” and “augusti” nodding to Emperor Augustus who granted … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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Our first dinner guest
This morning Miss M and I walked through the center of town while Paul drove to Frosinone to pick up a package. We saw Pepino Marchetti who remembered first meeting Miss M when she first visited Pico at age 8, … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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Attempted delivery
Despite being a citizen, owning a home, paying bills, taxes and possessing a Codice fiscale (Italian tax number), having a package delivered to Pico has been a challenge. We decided to try Amazon.it delivery this year knowing Paul would be … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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What’s in our fridge: Italy edition
We love going to supermarkets in other countries. Yesterday I shared photos from the small market in Pico. Now that we have a refrigerator that’s larger than what you’d find in a college dorm room, we’ve been able to grocery … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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Rome in a day
Today Miss M took the train to Rome for the day. After taking her to the train station, we grabbed a cappuccino and croissant from L’Angolo Bar. On our walk down the hill we saw Biaggio who asked how we … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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Festa Della Gnocchi
This morning Paul and I broke down two pieces of living room furniture that were left in the house when we bought it. The wood remnants are now in the cantina along with a wardrobe, dresser, a futon frame and … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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Air conditioning
Our neighbor Marino, and his plumber friend Pasquale, arrived to install air conditioning “after breakfast” which ended up being at 8:40am. Pasquale must live nearby because he arrived with the AC unit and everything he needed for the day, but … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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Sorrento day trip
Today we spent the day in Sorrento, take two from our train experience last week. The traffic was fine with the exception of some local dynamics: at one toll booth area a bunch of the lanes were malfunctioning, cars were … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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Buona domenica!
Happy Sunday! Paul and I started the day with a walk into the center of town for cappuccino, plain and cream-filled croissants. I counted 22 men standing, sitting and conversing with each other at the bar and one table of … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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Shopping Rome’s outskirts
If you look at a map of Italy, there’s a ring road that surrounds the city of Rome. Fiumicino airport would be at the southwest spot, just outside the ring. Today we drove 90 minutes to the northeast part of … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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Best laid plans are on the mountain
Today Miss M and I planned to take the train into Sorrento while Paul picked up a few things at IKEA and waited back in Pico for our couch to arrive. At 8:30a we began the journey: Paul drove us … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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Wake up call
After midnight last night, while sitting on the terrace, we heard rustling in the backyard. Assuming it was India (the dog next door) or some type of critter, we ignored it. But at 6:30a, India started barking. And barking. And … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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26 years
Last year Paul and I were separated by 4,160 miles on our 25th wedding anniversary. It’s just the way the summer panned out between traveling to multiple countries, scheduling a pre-college tonsillectomy, and navigating new home ownership in another country. … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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Beach life
Over the years I’ve shared on this blog how much I love Italian beach life. Today we drove 30 minutes and two traffic lights from Pico to “Raggio di Sole” beach club in Sperlonga. For 42 Euro, parking plus three … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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Neapolitan or Roman style
Today I spent the day working, doing laundry, and organizing things around the house setting myself up to take time off from work later in the week. Tonight we drove 30 minutes to the town of Roccasecca for the “Fritt … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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Back in Pico & ready for pizza
Today we flew from Porto to Rome, picking up the Fiat Pandina from long term parking at the airport. The Pandina is super cute – black and white exterior and interior like a mini panda. I always like the ride … Continue reading
Posted in Italy 2026, La Casa Pico
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Miscellaneous Pico photos
Even though we left Pico several days ago, we wanted to share some photos of the town that we captured during that leg of the trip. Views of the town A lot of Mastro Lindo will be needed to eventually … Continue reading
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Parev Hayastan! / Hello Armenia!
On Tuesday we temporarily closed up the house in Pico, Italy and made our way to our next destination: Armenia. As Paul says, we’re going from one motherland to the next. I’ll post photos of from the town of Pico … Continue reading
Posted in Armenia 2025, La Casa Pico
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Pre-paint preview
Here are some photos of the house in progress: The pictures are pre-paint, as Massimo, the local painter who fixed the cracks in the walls before we arrived, is going to paint everything at some point. We picked colors and … Continue reading
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Exploring Frosinone
Today is our last day in Pico before we start the next leg of our vacation. Paul and I spent time packing, Maria came by to confirm she will pick me up at 4 PM to walk me to her … Continue reading
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Sounds of Pico
In the morning we awake to the sounds of a rooster (or multiple roosters) and lots of birds chirping. The rooster crows continue throughout the morning and often into the afternoon but they are drowned out by the din of … Continue reading
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A day of rest
It’s been a busy two weeks in Italy so we decided today we’d stay in Pico and do our best to relax. As it was a Sunday morning, the church bells rang at 8am, 9am, 10am…no idea if there were … Continue reading
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Gatti e cani
Throughout Italy, there are many stray cats, whereas the majority of dogs we meet are pets. On his first night in Pico, D jumped out of the car to make sure a kitten had properly moved away from our parking … Continue reading
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Formia
Eight years ago on the sidelines of the Belmont youth soccer field Paul introduced himself to a family we heard yelling “vai vai!” (Go! Go!) to their fourth grader running down the field. Luca and his family were in the … Continue reading
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Bella Napoli
We’ve been to Italy ten (i think) times and our only experience with Naples has been arriving at the train station and departing from the port to catch a ferry. Our perception was dirty, crime ridden, not worth the time … Continue reading
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Friday morning mishaps
This morning was outside the norm we had established over the past 12 days: Paul and D drove to the town of Ceprano to try and get his iPhone repaired (he dropped it in the ocean while in Sperlonga.) The … Continue reading
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Feast of Santa Marina
This week the town of Pico has celebrated the feast of Santa Marina. There was small procession earlier in the week and mass each day, culminating in this evening’s festivities. Chiesa Santa Marina dates back to the 1100s and while … Continue reading
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Isola dei Liri
While D was in Sperlonga with Andrea, Paul and I took advantage of the free day to clean up the house a bit, Paul worked in the garden, and we drove to the town of Isola del Liri for the … Continue reading
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Lilla Travels 