Darlene Marwitz holds two master's degrees from the School of Architecture at The University of Texas in Austin. She worked for six years on the historic preservation and restoration of the Texas Capitol before returning to private business. She lives in Austin and Fredericksburg with her husband, David Marwitz. Italy Fever: 14 Ways to Satisfy Your Love Affair with Italy is her first book.

Darlene and David also have a small lavender farm (on the Pedernales River) and a Mediterranean lifestyle store in Fredericksburg, Texas called Villa Texas and the "Lavender Market" at Villa Texas.

Studio Portico (Portico Press, Inc.) is a small niche publishing company started by first-time Texas author Darlene Marwitz, and her husband David Marwitz. For more than twenty-three years, they've shared a strong passion for books and reading, albeit a less than mutual interest in travel:

"I love to travel. My husband does not. I pack too little and he packs too much."

-- from Chapter One, Italy Fever

"I was nervous that the his-and-hers book collection we'd acquired would sink our live-in ship. The thought of our vertical brick dwelling becoming a Leaning Tower of Pisa was unsettling to say the least."

-- from Chapter Seven, Italy Fever

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