All posts filed under: Lifestyle

Ciao, Sicilia! Sicily Travel Guides

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Ciao, Sicilia! I mean even that alone sounds sexy, no? Dolce & Gabbana built their brand around it. As an American living in Italy, it can be easy to fall into that La Dolce Vita myth. Everything is beautiful, everywhere is magical. Though, being primarily based in Northern Italy, I’ll let you in on something: Southern Italy has my heart. From my time in Puglia in my early 20s, to now, Sicily is decidely my happy place in Italy. Maybe it’s the island life, I know it’s the hospitality, food, people, ‘tude. The people are warmer, their accents more melodic, more swaggy. Tuscany is beautiful, but I truly believe, Sicily is what Americans want when they come to Italy. A lot of Italian-Americans are Southern or Sicilian… so maybe it’s the familiar? Did you know that in 1945 and 1946 a strong Sicilian separatist movement campaigned for Sicily to be admitted as a U.S. state? Black Americans, you might be drawn to Sicily too… from True Romance to Little White Lies, are they those mythic …

Nneya in front of testi di mori shop, original Black Sicilians

Why Do I Love Sicily? Are Sicilians Black?

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Are Sicilians Black? No, but the warmth of it’s people, culture, food and multiculturalism makes Sicily my favorite Italian region. While starting my travel series, Ciao, Sicilia, I had a think about why I love Sicily. What was supposed to be three short sentences turned into paragraphs. Yes, Taormina, Sicily was where Michele proposed but even touching down in Sicily, in Catania, immediately, I knew I was going to love it. It’s the warmth of both the people and climate. When we first arrived in Catania, it was a hot June afternoon. The heat was oppressive but seeing the ornate balconies of the beautiful Sicilian baroque buildings, I wanted to take it all in and explore. Smart Sicilians had shuttered themselves inside to avoid the mid-day sun. The aged decadent architecture reminded me of Havana. The first thing we did was eat and the heaping portions and warm smiles serving the food reminded me of my own family’s West Indian background. On another trip to Sicily, I even spotted a Jamaican restaurant in Syracuse! Sicily …

Black woman looking over her shoulder in floral dress in Venice with water and gondolier in background

Venice Will Charge Tourists to Enter the City Soon

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Starting sometime this year, Venice will charge tourists to enter the city. There have been murmurings of this plan since around 2018. Now updates have been announced that the Italian city of Venice will charge tourists to enter the city, particularly, day-trippers later in 2022. Most Americans visiting Italy stay around 7-10 days with their time divided between Florence, Rome and Venice (add Capri or the Amalfi Coast in the summer). The city welcomes around 30 million tourists yearly and this has totally changed the social fabric of it. The negatives that you’ll hear? Crowds, floods, the price gouging of tourists, misunderstood inhospitality or lack of true Venetians in the city (around 50,000) are just a few. But guess what? Despite all of this, Venice is absolutely worth it. I will never say Venice is overrated because… just WOW. The floods? They just add to the urgency of “Venice is sinking! Get there now!” During my mother’s last pre-pandemic visit to Italy, despite a train strike, being exhausted, I insisted we go to Venice. “Mom! …

Due to Omicron Concerns, Biden Announces New U.S. Travel Requirements

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For a brief moment, it seemed like even with the Delta variant the travel industry was on the comeback. The U.S. opened to the EU, summer and holiday spending on travel was on the up. New U.S. travel requirements seems to be on pause. And then in the 20th month of the global pandemic, the WHO announces a “variant of concern,” the Omicron. Due to Omicron concerns, President Biden announces new U.S. travel requirements. When the Omicron variant was announced, the US quickly banned entry from non-citizen travelers from countries in Southern Africa. This was in effort to gain reaction time and slow down the spread. On Wednesday, the President announced new U.S. travel requirements in an effort to prep for holiday travel season. Starting December 6, all international arrivals, vaccinated or not, will need to test negative for COVID no more 1 calendar day before flying to the U.S. Sure, this seems like a minor adjustment. But it leaves the travel industry concerned about whether or not this will dissuade travel during a time …

Cropped Stella Tripadvisor Image

New Byline for TripAdvisor: A Profile on Stella Jean!

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I have a new byline for TripAdvisor: a profile on of Stella Jean, my favorite Italian designer! In honor of Black History month, I’ve contributed to Heather Greenwood Davis and Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon‘s package celebrating Black Joy internationally. The women wonderfully state You won’t find tragic stories in this package. Instead, we’ve opted to focus on Black Joy, on the parts of travel that draw us all year long, and on the ways we are working to change the industry so that it welcomes us as much as we yearn for it. Travel is in our blood, whether by force or by choice. And in a year when the world has shut down much of our access to it, we hope the decision to celebrate our past, present and future – told through this collection of contemporary stories by young Black writers – resonates with you, too. Heather Greenwood Davis and Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon Take a look through this package, and check out my quick run down on Stella Jean! For me, it was exciting to share …

New Byline! Travel + Leisure Destination of the Year: Italy!

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I have a new byline in Travel + Leisure’s latest issue, Destination of the Year: Italy. This byline is extra special as I produced and styled a fashion shoot to go along with it! When Travel + Leisure’s editor-in-chief Jacqui Gifford told me that Travel + Leisure’s Destination of the Year for 2021 was Italy, I was excited. Travel + Leisure decides the destination of the following year as early as the previous spring. Italy was still in the throws of the first round of the coronavirus. This was before Covid-19 ravaged the U.S. It is an honor to contribute and I wanted to tell a part of the Italian experience that is a blind spot from travel publications, tourism boards, bloggers etc. There are indeed Black people in Italy! ITALY IS A MULTICULTURAL PLACE AND NOT ALL ITALIANS ARE WHITE! Is the world not letting the perception of what Italy is today evolve or is Italy choosing to portray an archaic notion of its culture to the world for the sake of “heritage branding?” …