CTAC & Voyager Trips Italy 2025 Info Session - Traverse City

Doug and Erica are a husband and wife team that lives and works in Levanto, just outside of the Cinque Terre.  Individually and as a couple we have traveled the world and continue to do so with their three children. 

Douglas Heise is an American who has lived and worked in Italy since 2001.  Doug also works as a translator from Italian to English, especially during the winters, and writes novels.  He was awarded the inaugural PEN America Grant for Translation of Italian Literature in 2017, and his translation of Luigi Malerba’s Ithaca Forever was published in 2019 by the U of California Press.

Erica Vecchione was born and raised in Parma, Italy.  She has worked in the tourist industry and is a certified tour guide. She writes the blog vitadacasalinga.com (Life of a Housewife) and is a contributing blogger/columnist for the national newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.