Welcome to my blog!

I was born in the U.S., but my heart belongs to Italy. I have developed this blog to talk about all things Italian, especially from the Lazio region, including travel, art, food, history, and life in general.

My love affair with Italy began when I was a child. When my parents decided to pack everything up and move back there, we moved to Milano, where I attended first grade, and even though I was so young, it has left quite an impression on me. In fact, to this day I have been trying to find my way back to a life there, but having a family makes it a not so easy thing! Of course, I go to Italy every chance I get, having my father’s side of the family there, mostly in the Lazio region which is in central Italy and includes Italy’s capital, Rome.

Some of the links on my website are what are known as affiliate links. If you click on them, you will be taken to other legitimate company websites which sell products, some of which either I’ve used or come highly recommended. I will never place a link to a website unless I’ve checked it out first. If you purchase any of the products or packages, I will make a small referral commission at no extra cost to you. If you have any questions about anything, you can always email me at laciociaraitaliana@gmail.com.

So you might be asking why I chose the name “La Ciociara” for my blog. “Ciociara”, pronounced “cho-cha-ra”, comes from the name given to the people who come from central Italy, particularly in the province of Frosinone known as “Ciociaria”, which is where my father comes from. “Cioce” are the type of sandals that were worn by sheep and cattle herders of this region, hence the name “Ciociara”.

It is also the name of the movie based on the novel by Alberto Moravia starring the ever so beautiful Sophia Loren and French actor Jean Paul Belmondo, and directed by Vittorio de Sica, which is about a widow and her daughter who flee Rome during WWII and end up being violated by Marocchini, Moroccans known as the Goumiers, who joined forces with the French against the Nazis, something which happened over and over again to the women and young girls throughout Ciociaria. (The English version of this movie is called “Two Women”.)

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By the way, here’s a bit of useless information – my name, Marcia, means belonging to the Roman god Mars. In Italian, it is actually spelled Marzia, but my name is in Portuguese.