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Vianarra

Patrick R. Dunn, Founder, Vianarra | Keynote Speaker.

Stories from the places worth remembering — for travelers with high standards and the hospitality professionals who serve them. Weekly. Honest. Every issue earns your time or I'm not doing my job.

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Marcolino's Italia Reno chicken parmigiana Vianarra hospitality storytelling
Featured Post

The Dancer Who Never Stopped Reading the Floor | Vianarra

Issue #3 Vianarra The Night the Room Was Already Alive Our friends had beaten us there. By the time Lori and I walked into Marcolino's Italia on Saturday night they were already at the table — drinks in hand, settled into their seats with the particular ease of people who had made a good decision and knew it. The room was packed. Every table full. The bar three deep. The kind of Saturday night energy that either holds together beautifully or fractures under its own weight. You can tell within...

3 days ago • 4 min read
Bananas the Bear University of Maine mascot Maine Alumnus magazine cover March 1984 Pat Dunn generating Maine spirit

Issue #2 Vianarra The Story Found Along the Way The Hello That Changed Everything That's Bananas the Bear. March 1984. Cover of the Maine Alumnus magazine at the University of Maine at Orono — UMO to those of us who were there before the rest of the world caught on. The name goes back to 1914. A black bear cub named Jeff was brought to a football rally on campus. When Jeff stood on his head, the crowd went bananas — and the name stuck to every mascot that followed for the next century. That...

9 days ago • 3 min read
Vianarra — The story found along the way

Issue #1 Vianarra Welcome to Vianarra. But first — let me tell you about last weekend. We pulled into Bacigalupi Vineyards in Healdsburg on a Saturday afternoon. The estate was wrapping up an event — a celebration of the Judgment of Paris, the legendary 1976 blind tasting that put California wine on the world map. Bacigalupi grapes were in the Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that beat the French that day. It's one of the great stories in American wine. We weren't part of the event. We just...

23 days ago • 3 min read