Bill Menard is a recovering attorney who left private practice in Washington, DC over a decade ago to pursue his passion for all things Italian. With his wife, Suzy, they founded Bella Italia in 2003, a retail store in Bethesda, Maryland that specialized in artisinal products from Italy, including gourmet foods, hand painted ceramics and luxury housewares. In 2014, they relocated and rebranded, and are now Via Umbria in Georgetown, D.C. Bill and Suzy travel to Italy frequently to find new products to import and to broaden their understanding and appreciation for the Italian culture and lifestyle. In 2008 they purchased a villa in Umbria, just outside the village of Cannara, as a rental property. Those in search of la dolce vita should visit Via Umbria at 1525 Wisconsin Ave NW, or www.viaumbria.com.
We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto. The phrase seemed all too appropriate as we wound our schoolbus-sized Mercedes Vito maxivan through the renaissance streets and alleyways of Florence, a town whose thoroughfares were laid out at a time when oxcart was the prevalent mode of transportation. There is a reason Smart Cars are so smart. Continue reading Routine Traffic Stop→
It was an epic beginning to an epic battle. A battle for the ages. Chifari contra Gilocchi. And it all began in a little agriturismo in a little farming village called Cannara on April 3, 2012. Continue reading There’s a New Chef in Town→
You know it’s hard to keep up with the pace of life, even here in slow paced Italy. So it is Tuesday afternoon and we are busily preparing for Round I of the Perugia-Terni Throwdown and I haven’t yet posted about our Sunday at Simone’s. Continue reading Homecoming→
At some point our readers must think we make this stuff up. You simply can’t have a day like yesterday, let alone on the heels of dozens of days just like it. But that’s our life in Italy. Not the life of Reilly, exactly. More like the life of Roberto. Continue reading We’re Cooking Now→
Yesterday was to be our “getaway day,” similar to when baseball teams play the final game in a series (usually a day game), after which the visiting team boards a plane to head to its next destination. Often the teams seem distracted and perhaps not as completely focused on the task at hand as during the first two days of the series. Yesterday, a day we planned to spend in Rome before heading north to Umbria with a stop in Terni for dinner with some business associates, promised to be a getaway day for us. No complicated or important itinerary, just following up on a few loose ends.
You would think that on a two month trip to Italy there would be plenty of lazy, carefree, unstructured days. Well, three weeks into our trip we haven’t really had one. Yesterday we finally did and boy, was it nice. Continue reading Niente→
As our regular reader(s) will know, we spend our days traversing the boot trying to discover the real Italy, the Italy lived and experienced by Italians that goes beyond the touristic but also beyond the simply romanticized ideal that most Americans have of this overly romanticized country. And although we have had some great successes in unearthing these moments, the mere act of trying to discover them, as Heisenberg’s theory tells us, often changes them. It is often best, we have learned, to sit back and let them come to you.
Such was yesterday, a leisurely stroll around Rome with Elizabeth Minchilli, a woman with the background and experience to know and understand the real Rome as few people do and the temperament not to share it, but to allow it to show itself off to us. Like a shy pet that recedes to back of the cage when strangers startle it, Elizabeth was able to coax Rome from under the rock and by the end of the day it was cooing and letting us stroke its belly. These types of days are rare indeed. Continue reading Roamin’ Eyes→
So the first chapter of our multi chapter, months long odyssey comes to a close today, as our sons and their schoolmates return home to their final semester of high school. The past several days have seen them receiving news from colleges and thoughts have begun to turn from ancient civilizations to unfinished homework assignments. But before flying home we have one last day to explore together. It is a perfect day in Rome and we plan to take advantage of it. Continue reading Roamin’ Holiday→
So we’re back in Italy after five days in London. Back home. It’s strange how a place where you can barely speak the language, where your clothes look out of place and they can spot you as a foreigner a mile away seems like home. But London felt like the foreign land and Italy like home. Rome sweet Rome. Continue reading Meet Rome Hilton, Paris’ Little Sister→
We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto. The phrase seemed all too appropriate as we wound our schoolbus-sized Mercedes Vito maxivan through the renaissance streets and alleyways of Florence, a town whose thoroughfares were laid out at a time when oxcart was the prevalent mode of transportation. There is a reason Smart Cars are so smart. Continue reading Routine Traffic Stop 
It was an epic beginning to an epic battle. A battle for the ages. Chifari contra Gilocchi. And it all began in a little agriturismo in a little farming village called Cannara on April 3, 2012. 
