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 sa ...
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 medi ...
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. ...
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 o ...
“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 roman ...
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 just ...
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, p ...
“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 Ita ...
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 countr ...
No, I did not know what good, real good pasta was until… Here is the story of one the great gastronomic discoveries of my life. I was dwelling in a Tuscan farmhouse near Merc ...
“I like the silence of a church, before the service begins, better than any preaching.” ...
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 ...
This week’s topic is once again related to a “rare” item I purchased for a song many years ago. Not at a flea market this time, but at a charity sale. A set of six modernist ...
Tuscans celebrate the rhythm of the seasons with an array of festivals and feasts adapted for each period of the year. Autumn is particularly colorful as the leaves change and th ...
You are a stone broke student with three pennies in your pocket and an immoderate passion for antiques. Wandering up and down the alleys of a colourful flea market, you stumble upo ...
“How about letting our little friend here perch on your hand? – Um… well… Is he in a good mood?” The “little friend” whom Stefania was introducing me to was a ...
“Oh, evil, cold-hearted woman, why hast thou betrayed me so ruthlessly? – Heaven forbid! I have not betrayed you, my sweet Lord… Not yet.” These are the first two l ...
This must have happened to you too… One day, your eye is for the first time caught by a very peculiar house, shop or façade, and you think to yourself: “Gee, I’ve walked ...
You like Italian cuisine, don’t you? Of course you do. Wish you could cook some great Italian dishes yourself? ...
When I go to Frassanelle – one of the estates featured in our Trust & Travel catalogue, – I sometimes turn into a cavewoman. Or a “grottowoman”, to be more prec ...
If I have always had a passion – and, I think, some flair – for design and interior decoration, I most certainly owe it to my dear Mom, who was an accomplished expert in these ...
This week, I am taking you to a most unusual “mystery garden”. It is nestled in the small Italian town of San Giovanni d’Asso, not far from one of the gems of Tusca ...
