This is a space where Italian culture, teaching wisdom, creative making, and life adventures intersect. Each post is labelled so you can explore what speaks to you.
In my article The Lost Art of Making Things I explored why using your own two hands still matters. Here I go back further, to a wooden spoon doll made at my nonna's kitchen table, a boutique seamstress who taught me to pin rather than baste, and a bag I stitched only recently from a pair of old jeans, made just for me.
Read moreThere is a particular kind of travelling that the caravan makes possible and that no other way of getting somewhere quite replicates, and it is the kind where the journey itself becomes as important as the destination, where a town you might otherwise have driven through at a hundred kilometres an hour becomes somewhere you stop, get out, and actually see, and this winter trip through the Riverina, from Harden to Temora to Griffith and back along a different road, was exactly that kind of travelling.
Read moreFor my Italian friends, the idea of what I am about to describe will sound quite strange, because as every Italian knows, breakfast is a sweet affair, a cornetto still warm from the oven and a properly made cappuccino at the bar. But those same friends will also know that I have never had a sweet tooth, and that polenta, mushrooms and scrambled eggs on the Dometic slide out kitchen on a cold winter morning is one of life's great pleasures.
Read morePane e Nutella. Pane e burro. Pane e salame. Every afternoon after school, without fail, something simple on the kitchen table before going out to play with friends. It was only years later, living in Australia, that I understood what that small daily ritual actually was: la merenda, one of the most deeply rooted and least understood food traditions in Italy, and one that most tourists miss entirely.
Read moreIn Part One I talked about the philosophy that guides every decision we make about our caravan. In this second part I get into the specifics: power and flexibility, the kitchen choices we made and why, reducing waste on the road, and the little Italian touches that make us feel at home wherever we are.
Read moreWhen we set up our caravan, we decided to be guided by two clear principles: buy only what you really need, and use what we already have at home. This is the story of how intentional choices, multi-purpose items, and secondhand finds created a home on the road that reflects our values and brings us joy.
Read moreMy mother lived through the Second World War and taught me that waste is not just a moral issue, it is a financial one. Decades later, returning from Italy and watching tourists leave half-eaten meals, I realised we have normalised waste in ways my mother would never have accepted. This is the story of rediscovering her wisdom during a cost-of-living crisis.
Read moreItaly has always been my great travel love, but Australia is home, and it turns out there is just as much to discover on your own doorstep if you are willing to slow down and look for it. This is the story of how Paul and I did exactly that, one caravan trip at a time.
Read moreHave you ever visited a place you had dreamed of seeing, only to find yourself swallowed by crowds, unable to stop, unable to look, unable to simply... be there? A reflection on how travel has changed and how we can recapture the joy of mindful, immersive experiences.
Read moreWelcome to Grazia Space. You might be wondering what connects Italian recipes, teaching reflections, travel advice, and stories from a life that has stretched across two continents. The answer is simple: curiosity. This is a space for people who, like me, refuse to fit in just one box.
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