Music Magic in Tuscany
My father and I were simply mesmerized, like under a spell. We looked at each other with a funny smile, and then stood up to join the applauding audience. Continue Reading →
My father and I were simply mesmerized, like under a spell. We looked at each other with a funny smile, and then stood up to join the applauding audience. Continue Reading →
“So, what wonder are you promising us today, Katharina? my brother asked me on the fourth day of our family holiday at the Villa Valmarana.
– Well, today I suggest we get romantic and head for the hometown of Romeo and Juliet…” Continue Reading →
True, I may have a slight tendency to use superlatives when I write, talk or dream about Italy. Superlatives which, however, needless to say, are always well-founded and fully justified!
Here is another verifiable superlative which I’d like to expand upon today in this article: Italy is home to the greatest number of “World Heritage Sites” to date, with 47 sites inscribed on a list totalling 962 entries. Continue Reading →
Off the beaten track… This is where I need to venture once in a while. And usually I don’t regret it: more often than not I get to run into something that makes a strong, positive and lasting impression on me. Continue Reading →
“I’m really fond of these plates, Katharina. Where did you get them?
– A little less than a thousand kilometers from here.
– Let me guess… In Italy, right?”
Yes, in Italy. In a little town south of Padua, to be exact. Continue Reading →
Villa… A word that calls to mind images and lifestyles which very few people would turn their back on.
Here is how the Oxford English Dictionary defines “villa”: A country mansion or residence, together with a farm, farm-buildings or other houses attached, built or occupied by a person of some position and wealth; in later and more general use, a residence in the country, or in the neighbourhood of a town, usually of some size and architectural elegance and standing in its own grounds.
“I like the silence of a church, before the service begins, better than any preaching.”
Are you like me?… Do you often look back nostalgically to an authentic, romantic past? Are you fond of structures that have kept the patina of times gone by? Are you easily sent into raptures by places and monuments which radiate sheer drama?
The last time I ran into Mrs. Loiseau, one of my Paris neighbours – I introduced her to you in my very first article, – she was wearing flashy sling back shoes which she had just bought. Skeptical about her choice – and I personally think she had every reason to be, – she wanted my opinion.
It was a very special day indeed. Special evening, I should say. It was high summer. The Italian sky was slowly turning into gold and copper, as it so often does at the end of the day. The air was sparkling and heartwarming. Continue Reading →
