Nature

Jun 7, 2024
Golf della Montecchia: Environmental Golf Club of the Year

A golf club with its own beehive and vegetable garden? It exists. Right next to La Montecchia, one of our trusted estates in the Veneto. ...

Jun 7, 2024
My latest discovery: dry gardens in Tuscany!

Psst, I am working on the restoration of a very exciting villa in the Bolgheri area. I can’t tell you more for the time being, but the history and the location are really excitin ...

Apr 22, 2023
The isle of Montecristo off the Tuscan coast

I finally visited the isle of Montecristo, the tiny Mediterranean island where Alexandre Dumas’ count got his name and treasure. ...

Sep 21, 2022
On turtle watch on the Italian coast

Have you ever noticed strange animal tracks on a Mediterranean beach? Along Italy’s shore, the sightings of sea turtles have become more regular in recent years. Caretta caretta, ...

May 11, 2022
Canoeing on a Tuscan river

The Italian coastline does not need an introduction. But have you ever explored one of the country’s rivers? After 30 years in Italy, I finally ventured onto the Ombrone River in ...

Jul 31, 2019
BIKING ALONG THE TYRRHENIAN SEA

Some day – hopefully in a not too distant future – we’ll be able to cycle along the Mediterranean coast on a dedicated bike path that will stretch from the Eternal City all t ...

Jul 6, 2019
SHOPPING IN STYLE

In my unremitting quest, along the roads of Italy, for new properties to add to our Trust & Travel catalogue, I often give in to one of my guilty pleasures: retail therapy. But ...

May 28, 2019
GOOD OLD NEW SARTEANO

When I drop by a village bar in Italy, I often see, hanging on the wall, a black and white photo showing the town’s central piazza filled with lively locals – a scene which unf ...

Apr 23, 2019
TESTING WATERS IN TUSCANY

Ah, springtime!… Longer days, blooming trees, twirling swallows and, above all, – I may have mentioned this to you before – my very first swim of the year in the Mediterr ...

Apr 1, 2019
RECYCLED CYCLING IN ITALY

Last week, thanks to the downloadable Mobike app, I spent a whole day whizzing through Florence on three or four bicycles – which I used one after the other, not simultaneously, ...

Mar 6, 2019
CASATO PRIME DONNE

Years ago, during a dinner in Montalcino, I overheard winemaker Donatella Cinelli Colombini tell the story of her winery. When she started producing her own Brunello wine in 1998, ...

Jan 24, 2019
A RINGSIDE SEAT IN VENICE

At any time of the year, our Palazzo Ca’nova Borsato apartment offers a breathtaking view of the Serenissima’s Grand Canal. But during the world-famous Carnival, this view beco ...

Jan 14, 2019
TINTORETTO, 500 YEARS LATER

Rumour has it that the great Tintoretto, born Jacopo Comin in 1518, and nicknamed Il Furioso for his phenomenal brushstroke energy, had written this inspirative motto on the walls ...

Jan 2, 2019
LIVORNO’S GREAT SNACK

Every once in a while – and always when I’m embarking on a New Year – I feel the urge to gorge myself on a delicious cecina, a chickpea flatbread which is the typical street ...

Nov 28, 2018
HARPSICHORD TRADE SECRETS

You certainly are familiar with the sound of the harpsichord, and would probably recognize the instrument itself if you saw one. But have you ever seen how it is built? Last week, ...

Nov 12, 2018
In Audrey Hepburn’s Two-Wheeled Wake

I did it, at long last! Wandering about the streets of Rome on Italy’s iconic motor scooter, the Vespa! I had been dreaming of this since I had first seen, as a child, the 1953 r ...

Oct 24, 2018
A Master of Contemporary Design and Architecture

When thinking of Italian art and architecture, most people see, in their mind’s eye, Roman ruins, Renaissance masterpieces and Baroque churches. And we may even wonder whether th ...

Sep 28, 2018
The extraordinary Palio of Siena

You have always wanted to attend Siena’s famous Palio, but never did because of the dense crowds and stifling heat that come with it when it takes place, in the heart of summer? ...

Sep 25, 2018
Pontremoli by Word of Mouth

Do you still remember the time when TripAdvisor and the like did not exist? When it was creatures of flesh and blood – and not applications and algorithms – who pointed and ste ...

Sep 10, 2018
An Autumn Swim in the Mediterranean

They are everywhere… Over the last twenty years, the monotonous Monobloc – a lightweight stackable polypropene chair, often white in colour – has proliferated like mushrooms ...

Aug 14, 2018
One of Italy’s Most Beautiful Food Markets

I have always loved wandering in the aisles of markets, covered or open-air ones. So when I found out, in Giulia Scarpaleggia’s excellent cookbook, From the Markets of Tuscany, t ...

Jul 9, 2018
My Italy of the Good Old Days

“I really like the way you’ve furnished your bar, Francesco. No wonder people keep flocking in. — Thanks for the compliment, Katharina. I think I’ve been lucky. — Lucky, ...

Jun 11, 2018
A Sweet Pre-Latin Aperitivo in Vetulonia

Before moving to the bel paese, I had barely heard about the Etruscans, a rich and remarkable civilization who flourished in ancient Italy until they were conquered and assimilated ...

Apr 10, 2018
A Little Palace of Art in Venice

The luxury of loving Italy… These are the very last words of Italian Hours, a collection of essays which the great Henry James wrote about the bel paese more than a century ago, ...

Feb 12, 2018
The Art and Heart of Assisi

Last month, I got into my car early in the morning, on a Tuesday, and drove down to the lovely medieval town of Assisi, situated in the very heart of Umbria. I had a lunch appointm ...

Jan 15, 2018
Pistoia – a Tuscan Town that is Worth the Detour

Every time I travel between Florence and Lucca – I must have done it a hundred times, – I drive through the charming medieval town of Pistoia, famous throughout Europe for its ...

Oct 26, 2017
The Italian Capital Within Arm’s Reach

Good news: all roads lead to Rome and, in some cases, will take you back to your starting point before the end of the day! I experienced this two or three times last summer. After ...

Oct 12, 2017
An Electrifying Ride in the Chianti

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 ...

Sep 12, 2017
They Are Simply Everywhere!

Oh, look Mummy, there’s a mosquito sagra around here! Can we go? Pleeeaaase! This was two years ago, in August. My family and I were leisurely driving through the Italian provinc ...

Aug 13, 2017
A Sparkling Gem in the Tuscan Archipelago

Until a few years ago, when we happened to be sojourning, my family and I, in the Maremma, an excursion on the Isle of Giglio used to be one of our favourite day-trip options. Then ...

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