In the realm of television travel series, Kathy McCabe has one of the coolest gigs around. The host of the PBS series Dream of Italy, she gets to hobnob with Francis Ford Coppola in Basilicata, make tortellini in Bologna and tag along with truffle hunters in Piedmont. There are now two seasons of Dream of Italy (which is also  newly available on the Create TV channel) and she continues to publish the Dream of Italy newsletter. I had a chance to catch up with her recently and ask her about realizing her dreams of Italy.

Tell us how you came up with the idea of Dream of Italy?

First came Dream of Italy, the subscription print publication and membership website I founded 16 years ago. I was working in journalism and spent most of my vacations visiting Italy. I realized there were so many people out there like me, who go to Italy again and again and dream about it between trips. I wanted to provide a resource for authentic travel to Italy – remember this is just when villa rentals and cooking classes and experiential travel were truly taking off … continue reading