Quiet Reflections on the Enchanting Italian Village of Panicale

At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, with travel restrictions in place worldwide, we launched a new series — The World Through a Lens — in which photojournalists help transport you, virtually, to some of our planet’s most beautiful and intriguing places. This week, Barry L. Schwartz shares a collection of images from the central Italian region of Umbria.

In 2017, a few months after we got married, my wife, Maggie, and I took a six-week trip — part honeymoon, part yearslong delayed vacation. Leaving California, our first stop was in Brooklyn to see Maggie’s oldest friend, who we all knew was not going to survive a cancer that had returned after many years. It was a good visit.

Next, we flew to Barcelona and drove to a small coastal town, Sitges. While there, I learned that one my oldest friends had just died, also from cancer, also at the end of a series of treatments.