Shortly after starting to work at Italy’s oldest winery, during the first years I spent in the bel paese, I was already dreaming of touring the bucolic Chianti region on one of t ...
A few weeks ago, under clear blue skies, I was on my way from Montalcino to Perugia when the fancy of a good Italian coffee insidiously took me. I decided to make a stop in Montisi ...
Are you, dear reader, a candid Instagram addict like me? If so, you must have seen – perhaps even reposted ? – a photograph of an indoor swimming pool which, by now, is probabl ...
The gradual disappearance of bookshops, especially the small independent ones, is something that has truly saddened me over the past few years. Just in Paris, for instance, close t ...
The best season to visit Italy can sometimes be… winter! Yes, the cold season. Take the small hill town of San Gimignano, for instance – known as the “Town of Fine Towers”, ...
I was in Florence last month, strolling across the Ponte Vecchio, when my phone rang. I answered it: “Hi Katharina, it’s Emiko. – Oh, Emiko! How have you been?” We exchange ...
“Oh no, La Ménagère is closing down, really?”… This is a cry of disbelief one could hear on the lips of Florentines, over and over again, some ten years ago; La Ménag ...
My friends were stealing a glance at me with a quizzical eyebrow. I know what they were thinking deep down inside, especially their two teenage kids: “You’re really taking us t ...
In the heart of Tuscany lies a magnificent town which is exceptional in many respects. Founded by the Etruscans in the first millenium BC… Home to a historic center that has ...
“Hey, look at this one, Mummy! Is that a hippotamus? – A hippopotamus, darling. Yes, it is. – He looks angry! – Well… yes. Or he may just be yawning…” For my daug ...
