Judith Valente at St. Barnabas

La Dolce Vita: What Italy Can Teach Us About Living More Mindfully and Joyfully

Italy is known the world over for its storied art, significant history, superb food and exquisite wines. But beyond what tourists normally see when they visit this country is an attitude of the heart known to all Italians that allows them to see and experience the sacred and poetic in the mundane elements of daily living. In this presentation, spirituality author and journalist Judith Valente, who has spent considerable time living in Italy in recent years, distills what it is about the Italian lifestyle that fosters living more mindfully and joyfully, and how we can incorporate many of those attitudes and practices into our hectic American lifestyle. We will explore the sanctity with which Italians approach the dinner table, the way they prize quality over quantity, pride themselves on personal relationships as much as professional achievements and venerate the age-old practice of chiacchiera — chatting with others — as a way of staying connected and cultivating a sense of belonging and community. Italians are not afraid of taking time to simply do nothing. As Judith notes, “In Italy I somehow had time enough for everything, for work, friends, play, cooking, walking, exercising, and, yes, doing nothing. I learned to pay as much attention to my self-care as I do to my work.” We invite you to take this journey to Italy and come away with ideas for how to live la dolce vita - the Italian sweet life - wherever you are.

Judith Valente is an award-winning author, journalist and poet. She wrote for The Wall Street Journal in that paper’s Chicago and London bureaus and was on-air correspondent covering faith and values for national PBS-TV. She was also a contributing correspondent for Chicago Public Radio and chief investigative reporter for GLT Radio, the NPR affiliate in central Illinois. She is the author of six spirituality titles, including The Art of Pausing and How to Live, as well as three collections of poetry, and co-editor of the anthology Twenty Poems to Nourish Your Soul. She has given presentations in nearly every state in the U.S. as well as Italy, where she leads an annual contemplative, cultural, culinary pilgrimage to lesser-known parts of Italy. Her newest book, out in May 2025, is The Italian Soul: How to Savor the Full Joys of Life.