Ciao!
The New Roman Times was created and is run by me, Laura Itzkowitz. I’m an award-winning American journalist based in Rome. While I write about Italy for many publications, this newsletter is different. It’s a bit more personal (though sometimes I write personal essays for traditional media outlets, and I will link to them when I do). It’s a bit more niche and granular, devoting more space to places and people that might just get a passing mention in my articles. It tells the stories behind the stories I write for publications like Travel + Leisure, AFAR, Fodor’s, Hemispheres, and others. I bring to it the perspective of a seasoned journalist with a decade of experience in the field as well as an American living in Italy and navigating daily life here. I hope it will entertain, inform, and enlighten you.
I decided to call this newsletter The New Roman Times as a play on Times New Roman (I am a writer after all) and as a nod to newspapers like the New York Times and the Times of London. It certainly won’t be published with the same frequency as those papers, but my aim is to write about people, places, and things in Rome and beyond that matter to Romans and anyone who loves Rome. That might mean an in depth feature about an under-the-radar place like the Sacro Bosco di Bomarzo, a 15th-century Mannerist park filled with larger-than-life stone sculptures an hour from Rome. Or an interview with a local business owner or artist who you might meet on a future trip to Italy. Or the story behind a dish I ate during my travels and instructions for how to make it at home.
I also want to know what you’re most interested in reading about, so don’t hesitate to get in touch and tell me. I sometimes dedicate whole issues to answering reader-submitted questions, such as this one offering some advice for traveling in Italy in July and August and this one responding to a reader trying to plan a beach getaway to Sardinia after visiting Rome. To ask me a question, email newromantimes@substack.com or leave a comment on any of the issues.
Lastly, if you’re enjoying an issue of the New Roman Times, let me know by tapping the heart, restacking it, or sharing it on Substack notes or social media to help like-minded readers discover it.
Why subscribe?
I send out a new newsletter every Thursday.
The majority of the content published in the New Roman Times is free, but select articles—the ones that contain the insider intel that takes years to acquire—are put behind a paywall. If you enjoy the content here, I hope you will consider purchasing a paid subscription to support my work and get full access to all the issues.
Paid subscribers will also get perks like exclusive discounts with my partners, including 10% off Scooteroma’s Vespa tours. Top tier subscribers who opt for a "Super Supporter” subscription get a free 40-minute consultation with me to help them plan a trip to Italy.
I’m excited to have a more direct connection to you, my readers, and I very much look forward to hearing what you have to say about it.
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