The Bittersweet Life

Join us for a live episode with our listeners, the participants of the first-ever Bittersweet Life Roman Adventure! On Day Three of this amazing and magical trip, we stopped for an aperitivo in a sun…

In October we hosted the very first ever Bittersweet Life Rome Adventure with ten of our listeners! It was a blast, and we can't wait to share more about it over the coming episodes. But first!

We ta…

The opening lines of David M. Eagleman's Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives inspires this week's episode, just in time for Halloween.

Eagleman's premise is that you aren't fully dead until your nam…

Every time Tiffany hears the word "money," she pictures geese on the Capitoline Hill. If you're curious why (and have an interest in word origins and ancient history) this episode is for you. You'll …

It's the ingredients, stupid.

Ask anyone who knows Italian food and the'll tell you that what makes it so delicious and so universally beloved are the ingredients.

Viola Buitoni's new cookbook Italy …

How often do actual Romans think about the Roman Empire?

You probably saw the recent Tik Tok trend, in which women from around the world asked their male partners how often they thought about the Rom…

500 Episodes! Can you believe it? (We can't!)

(And by complete coincidence, we taped this episode on the 19th anniversary of Tiffany's arrival in Rome!)

Join us for this unbelievable milestone as we …

“You're an expatriate. You've lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you…”

A famous quote in Tiffany’s current read sparks a lively conversation about the ung…

How long does it take, living out of your home country, to lose your cultural fluency?

When you grow up and live in the same country for most of your life, you might take it for granted, but understa…

Where do you find inspiration—for your writing, your painting, or just the art of living?

A listener question about the flowers of Italy, of all things, sparks a conversation about where we find our …

With our August break officially over, we're back with all new episodes, and oh my goodness, I guess that means it's Season 11! (What??!!)

On this spontanous episode, we get back into the swing of th…

Palestinian American poet Hala Alyan and her family fled Kuwait when Saddam invaded. She joins us to explore storytelling, straddling cultures, loneliness, therapy, and what value belongings come to …

Why are colors brighter when you travel? Why do foreign doctors' offices seem sketchy sometimes? This has more to do with your brain than with reality. Science writer Erik Vance, author of Suggestibl…

Do I deserve to live a bigger life? Sarah McColl, author of the memoir Joy Enough, joins us to talk about the beautiful life she discovered while living alongside her dying mother.

In this probing co…

Why does time fly sometimes? Why does it slow down when you travel? We explore the notion of time with Alan Burdick, author of Why Time Flies.

Alan Burdick is an editor on the Health and Science desk…

How long does the magic of Rome last to an expat?

We recently received an email from a listener, an Australian who spent 5 years in Milan and has now been living in Rome for over a year. He wonders: …

After her recent two-week trip to Austria, Tiffany reflects on the differences between Italy and Austria. Despite the fact that the countries share a border, it turns out there are many glaring diffe…

Today we talk names. What names are most popular for kids in Italy these days? Which are evergreen favorites and how does popular culture play a part? And are old-fashioned grandpa and grandma names …

Do dead bodies make you squeamish? Have you ever seen one up close?

For some, attending an open-casket funeral or a wake is as close as they'll ever come. For others, their career (funeral home direc…

Mamma Ho Perso L'Aereo! (Mom, I Missed the Airplane!) This is the Italian title for a  popular American movie—can you guess which one?

On our twice-monthly bonus episodes, which we put out exclusivel…