Go Away With … Dianne Hales

By Jae-Ha Kim
Tribune Content Agency
December 30, 2014

Dianne Hales is the author of “Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered” (Simon and Schuster, $28). An avid traveler, she says, “If you were to offer me a ticket almost anywhere, but I had to leave in an hour, I wouldn’t hesitate. There’s nothing I need that can’t be bought somewhere.”

The bestselling writer resides in Bodega Bay, California, which gives her easy access to lovely getaways to Wine Country.

“It’s the setting for Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ — on the coast about an hour north of San Francisco,” she says. “I’m told there’s no place windier or foggier or, in my opinion, more beautiful.”

Fans may follow Hales on Twitter.

Q. What is your favorite vacation destination?

A. Italy. Regardless of where else we wander, I always want to return to the Mediterranean’s wonderful old boot.

Q. To someone who was going there for the first time, what would you recommend that they do during their visit?

A. Slow down. Go to half of the places on your must-see list. The joy of Italy is the living, the savoring of meals and wine and sunshine and strolls at the end of the day. And learn at least a little Italian. Combined with a smile and lots of gestures, it will open doors — and hearts.

Q. What untapped destination should people know about?

A. I love the western coast of Tuscany, the Maremma, where you live by the rhythms of the sea. Just don’t go in August when Italians descend in droves from the cities.

Q. What was the first trip you took as a child?

A. I grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and we didn’t really travel, except to Asbury Park on the Jersey Shore. That’s where I must have picked up my love for the ocean. Sometimes we ventured into Philadelphia and, even more thrilling, New York City. That made me realize that there was a big, wide, wonderful world outside of Scranton and I couldn’t wait to get there.

Q. What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from your travels?

A. There’s a quote from St. Augustine that not traveling is the equivalent of reading only a single page in an immense book. From an early age, I wanted more and more pages — to see new things, hear new sounds, taste new foods, experience new adventures. Travel adds so many dimensions, colors, memories, perspectives, feelings. I have no doubt that I’m a different person than I would have been if I hadn’t ventured into the world.

Q. Have you traveled to a place that stood out so much that you felt compelled to incorporate it into your work?

A. Big time. I so fell in love with Italy’s culture and language that I wrote “La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language” — a pretty daunting challenge. Among its many unexpected and delightful consequences was being knighted by the president of Italy. Yes, I am a Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella della Solidarieta Italiana (Knight of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity), which I think is pretty cool. During my research in Florence for “La Bella Lingua,” I came across the inspiration for my book on the real Mona Lisa.

Q. When you go away, what are some of your must-have items?

A. It used to be books. We once were carrying so many that we had to buy an extra suitcase at the airport. Kindle changed all that.

Q. What is your guilty pleasure when you’re on the road?

A. Room service. When I’m alone, I order course after course, rent a movie and settle in for a cozy evening. When I’m with my husband, we ask for candles and push the table near the window if there’s a view. It’s like having a restaurant all to ourselves.

Q. What kind of research do you do before you go away on a trip?

A. I’ve worked as a journalist most of my career, so I naturally do a lot. My husband plans the logistics of getting us from point A to point B, but I’m the one who takes over then. I like to have destinations, but I’ve learned to enjoy the detours and diversions along the way.

Q. What is your best and/or worst vacation memory?

A. I remember watching a spectacular total lunar eclipse on a magical summer night in Italy. And I love the thrill of being on a boat and entering a new port, particularly where you thread your way into a harbor and look up at rocky hills and white houses. The worst: As we were leaving Budapest, I made a classic mistake: I drank the tap water. I lurched from one ladies room to the next through three airports on what had to be the longest journey home ever.

Q. Where are your favorite weekend getaways?
A. We’re so fortunate. We have the Pacific literally in our front yard and Sonoma County, the heart of wine country, in the back. We love visiting family vineyards where we eat local foods, sip flights of different vintages and talk with people who are passionate about growing grapes and making fine wines. Our favorites include Arista Winery, Diamond Creek, Chalk Hill, Peter Michael and Lynmar Estates.

Q. What are your favorite hotels?

A. Locally we love Calistoga Ranch, a heavenly womb of a place, in wine country. In San Francisco, no one does it better than the Ritz Carlton. Il Pellicano in Porto Ercole is our favorite in Italy, and we always stay at the Stafford in London.

Q. Where have you traveled to that most reminded you of home?
A. The cliffs and surging seas of the Maremma remind us of northern California.

Q. What are your favorite restaurants?
A. Our all time favorite is Camponeschi in Rome, where  you truly feel you are in a film and Marcello Mastroianni could appear at any minute. You eat well; you people-watch;   you sit outside under the stars; you have the time of your life. We’re also fond of the greal local restaurants in wine country, like Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg.

Q. Where is the most romantic destination?
A. Italy. Love truly is lovelier there. “Anywhere else,” Stendhal said, “it is only a bad copy.” More than 20 years ago ,my husband took me to what was then a country inn called Il Pellicano in Porto Ercole on the Tuscan coast. We were so enraptured by the setting – the sea, the terraces, the flowers, the rugged scenery – that we’ve returned almost every year and it always feels like a honeymoon.

Q. What would be your dream trip?
A. I love being on or in the sea, so I’d charter a private boat and explore islands, starting with the Aeoli off Sicily, jumping off the boat to swim during the day and watching Stromboli shoot red-hot lava into the sky at night.

Q. What are your five favorite cities?
A. San Francisco, New York, Florence, Rome, London.

Q. Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?
A. Japan, Greece,Belize and Poland. I’m Polish.

© 2014 JAE-HA KIM
DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.