L’Americana
The dress in the attic
A grandmother's dress, extracted from its sleepy attic domain, opens into a world of Italian family memories.
Pianist to poet
Once a promising pianist, the author "graduated" to verse, with key life lessons learned along the way.
Coming ‘home’
For the author, time spent in Lazio's Sabine Hills pops open a treasure chest of Italian memories.
Happy Birthday — you’re pregnant
The 41-year-old author had a vision, but put it in her back drawer, until it came to life.
One last dance
The author's father is getting married at 78, and the impending change elicits a flood of thoughts and memories.
Between two countries
For an American who spent vital years in Rome, nostalgia is less abstract than it is a kind of calling.
About a dog
The story of a dog often has much in common with the story of a human life and its passages.
A powerful day
Mother's Day is powerful day when it triggers a flood a memories, and with it a sense of loving loss.
L’Americana
Mulling over a return to poetry takes you back in time, some of it informed by Rome.
Author, Deputy 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.