As some of you, dear readers, might remember, I started last week’s article by quoting a few words by Benjamin Franklin. This week, allow me to cite the great Virginia Woolf: “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” Continue Reading →
Being in the Garden of Eden… This is how I felt the first time I came here years ago, and this how I feel again today. A warm, bright, soothing day in the heart of the Maremma. A soft breeze blowing down from the hills. Seagulls dallying with the waves. Jurassic-looking turtles basking in the sun. Intoxicating scents and vapors floating in the air… Paradise! Continue Reading →
The sanguine enthusiast who was sitting next to me in the stands clapped his hands in a burst of joy and glanced at me briefly:
“No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle, he exclaimed. Don’t you agree?
– Well… yes, maybe, I modestly replied.
– Winston Churchill said that, not me. Is it the first time you’re attending this horse race, young lady?” Continue Reading →
Pharmacies, drugstores, chemist’s shops, dispensaries– whatever you call them – are not exactly the kind of place most of us like to hang around. We go there to buy some medicine and sometimes a few other items, and that’s about it.
There is one pharmacy in Florence, though, that I love to linger at, and I’m not the only one to feel this way. 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 →
If you happen to be in Florence in May, there is a special event you must make sure not to miss. This year again, from May 16th to May 19th (Thursday to Sunday), the 19th edition of the Artigianato e Palazzo annual exhibition will be held at the same exceptional venue where it has been taking place since its creation. For its visitors, this event is always a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.
Contrary to my general practice, our “story” today will not exclusively focus on Italy. And it will have to do with two castles…
In 2011, one of the owners of La Foce, Donato Origo, made me discover the Castello di Potentino, an imposing citadel situated on the slopes of Mount Amiata, the highest mountain in Tuscany – a mountain renowned, as you may remember, for its hot springs, chestnut woods and untamed environment. Continue Reading →
Sunday morning. I’m having a lie-in and am sleeping like a log. Sheer bliss.
My mobile phone, on my bedside table, rings. I wake up with a start and answer the call.
“ Hello? 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 →
A room with a view… This is what I would like to share with you this week: a room with a view which I had fantasized about for years before discovering it, at long last. Continue Reading →
