L’Americana
Home sweet Rome
When I left Rome in 2007, I did so in furia e fretta. Harried. I was stuffing things into my suitcase when my friend came to pick me up, and [...]
A nod to Madame Clinton
On the eve of President’s Day, I found a photo that’s as close as I’ve ever gotten to a U.S. president – his wife. Madame Clinton, otherwise known as Hillary. [...]
Strangers and stories
Every night, when I tuck my daughter Julia into bed, she asks me to tell her a story. For a while, she would call out a number between one and [...]
My Roman cats
My daughter Julia sprang out of bed the other morning declaring that she’d had a dream that we’d taken our two cats, Cashew and Almond, to Rome, where we met [...]
Of lines and bylines
One evening, I was telling my daughter Julia a bedtime story about Fassi’s, my favorite gelateria in Rome. I was trying to seduce her into sleep with lavish descriptions of [...]
Almond’s conquest
Staring into his green-gold eyes, half closed in contentment, I stroke the top of his head and say to him, “Okay, you win, you’re going to be my column.” He [...]
The power of sound
When I moved to New York after a decade in Italy to go to graduate school, working with audio was one of my favorite New World discoveries. I had a [...]
Once upon a shoe
When I lived in Rome, I occasionally strolled through the fancy shopping streets near Piazza di Spagna. Mostly, I window shopped — at Gucci, Max Mara, and Ferragamo, telling myself [...]
Household diplomacy
When I was in college, I briefly considered a career in diplomacy. I’d never taken a political science course, and I didn’t really like politics. But diplomacy seemed different, above [...]
A quiet fortune
Every August, a box arrives on my front porch, marked “fragile,” although there’s nothing breakable inside. Just perishable. A dozen ears of corn from Iowa. I’m always hesitant to open [...]
Language of life
Like many people, I started riding a Peloton exercise bicycle during the pandemic. I’m not a huge fan of indoor exercise, but jogging gets tedious, and it's hot in Florida. [...]
The art of teaching
I never thought that I would end up teaching, certainly not based on my halting early efforts. The summer after tenth grade, I taught tennis to little kids. Though I [...]
Author, Associate Editor
Kristine Crane
Kristine Crane, who writes the “L’Americana” column, lives and writes in North Central Florida. She was formerly a Fulbright scholar and journalist in Rome, where she helped found “The American.” She is originally from Iowa City.