Halfway between Siena and Florence, there is a little farm that seems to have been sitting on its hill forever. Fattoria Corzano e Paterno produces excellent wine and olive oil, an ...
At the junction of Umbria and Tuscany lies the Val di Chiana, a wide fertile valley boasting lovely medieval villages, beautiful rural landscapes and the eponymous Chianina cattle ...
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 ...
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, ...
In large cities, one of the greatest challenges posed to car owners is, of course, parking one’s beloved motorcar. This is one of the top five questions I hear from our clients v ...
San Gimignano… A lovely Tuscan town famous for its 13 medieval “tower houses” – and which I invited you, in a previous article, to visit in the much quieter wintertime. But ...
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 ...
I really love giving books as Christmas presents, especially books about Italian art, handicrafts, touring, food and wine. And there won’t be any exception to the rule this year, ...
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 ...
When actor Colin Firth, an Academy Award winner, and Eco Age founder Livia Firth decide to actively foster a little-known refugee project in Southern Tuscany, you can reasonably su ...
My love for the bel paese has always been closely related to my passion for fine leather bags. And when I say “fine leather bags”, I don’t necessarily mean Gucci or Prada – ...
I had been to Venice a hundred times before, at least, and never, ever had I witnessed the phenomenon which I had been reading and hearing about for more than twenty years. And the ...
I think I have already told you this once, perhaps even twice: I have been in love with linen and fabrics for a very long time, especially Italian ones. Lying just a leisurely ten ...
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 ...
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 ...
By now, dear followers, you are as convinced as I am that Italy is a dreamland, aren’t you? And I think I told you once that the bel paese is the country which boasts the highest ...
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 ...
In order to properly oversee the restoration, decoration and final touches of our new exclusive project in Venice – the Ca’nova Palazzo with its four superb holiday rental apar ...
“You have created most of these lovely dresses and jackets, Renata? – Yes, Katharina, my sister and I have designed them. The bags and scarves too. – Wow! Talent obviously ru ...
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 ...
Like the Seine in Paris, the Thames in London and the Styx in the Underworld, an old dignified river flows across the city of Florence, dividing it, inevitably, into two river bank ...
“If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.” You will never guess who said that… Albert Einstein. Here is the story of another great Italian tailor w ...
Last week, I was tidying up a cupboard in my Parisian flat – it needed it badly – when I stumbled upon a small ceramic vase I had bought at Lucca’s antique market a few years ...
“I think it’s high time I bought a new suit, Katharina! Would you accompany me to my tailor’s boutique to help me choose? I trust your taste.” ...
“Mummy, are we going back to the Christmas market this year? You know the one where the houses are all yellow and orange?” Her bright eyes filled with hope and anticipation, my ...
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 ...
“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 ...
One of my closest friends has been dreaming of that for years: a dark green belt made of the best Italian leather. She’s lucky because Christmas is around the corner, and I know ...
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 ...
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 j ...
