Is Italy on your mind? If not, our guests says it should be.

Loán (pronounced Lo’ Ann) Lake visited Italy for the first time as a graduate student. From Milan, Naples, Venice, Florence and Rome to Sicily, Loán explored Italy like few have. When we asked her what she enjoyed most about the country – everything, she said. Even with her love of “everything” Italy, Loán reserved a special place in her heart for one often overlooked locale within Italy, the island of Sicily. She said it reminded her in a way of her native Caribbean, in particular St Thomas—narrow hillside roads, Bougainvillea flowers, the American Jazz in the Sicilian nightclubs, and African influences that remain from conquests 300 years earlier.

We could have spent the entire podcast discussing Italian history and cuisine. Loán even did a deep dive into the differences in marinara sauces across Italy.

Today, Loán is a communications and public relations strategist, journalist, and published author. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies, the U-S Government, non-profits and tourist destinations.

Loán has returned to Italy since her graduate school days, and her visit further reinforced Loán’s love of the country. As the title says, it’s “Italy on My Mind.”

Ready for that Italian vacation in a post Covid world? Here’s a link to Italian Tourism to help you get started.