Mary Jane Cryan

American-Irish writer and historian Mary Jane Cryan has been living in Italy since 1965. An international educator, researcher and writer, Mary Jane has also been a guide in the Vatican, Site Director and lecturer for Elderhostel and creator of start-ups for American universities, high schools and groups of artists.

Her byline has appeared in scholarly journals (Biblioteca e Società, The Irish Sword), best-selling guidebooks (Eyewitness Guide to Rome, Buying a Home in Italy, Designer Bargains in Italy, Fodor’s Italy Upclose), on Italy’s English language press and Italian lifestyle magazines (Case e Country, Ville e Casali). While living in Moscow during the Perestroika she was on the staff of Moscow Magazine, the first Western style magazine to appear in the USSR. She is a regular contributor on www.nileguide.com and www.italiannotebook.com.

Since moving to Vetralla, an hour north of Rome, in 1993, she has written and published four books about the area : Vetralla-The English Connection, which tells the forgotten history of the city and its protection by the English crown since 1512, Affreschi-Exploring Etruria - travel essays about the Northern Lazio area, and Travels to Tuscany and Northern Lazio, based on the 18th century travel diaries of Cardinal Henry Stuart, Duke of York, which was presented at the Uffizi Library in Florence.

In August 2010 Etruria-travel, history and itineraries in central Italy was released and will be presented on October 11 at the Duomo Museum,Viterbo and in Rome on October 18 at the Sala Crociera of Palazzo del Collegio Romano.

Her cultural website www.elegantetruria.com was a finalist for Donna è Web prize, and in January 2010 the Regione Lazio awarded her the Narrare il Lazio prize for the best website about the Lazio Region. Other prizes include the Tarquinia-Cardarelli prize for cultural promotion and City of Capranica prize for historical research.

In the past few years Mary Jane has begun two new careers: as a producer of extra virgin olive oil and lecturer aboard luxury cruise ships plying the Mediterranean, Adriatic and Black Seas.