Three Trees That Tell a Story of Sardinia
Olive, cork, and myrtle all play a part in the culture and history of Sardinia.
Parks and Nature
Hiking, Biking, and Walking Across Italy: How to Explore the Cammini d’Italia
Italy currently recognizes 44 official pathways known as the Cammini d’Italia. Learn about the many historic routes that you can hike, bike, and walk.
Campo Felice: Skiing and Sledding in Abruzzo
Campo Felice is an easy winter day trip from Rome.
New Year’s Day in Villa Borghese
The ideal place in Rome to spend New Year’s Day.
The Iconic Landscape of Val d’Orcia, Tuscany
Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, the hills, valleys, and trees of the Val d’Orcia “exemplify the beauty of well-managed Renaissance agricultural landscapes.”
Day Trip from Rome: The Monster-Filled Gardens of Bomarzo
Bomarzo’s Parco dei Mostri is a park filled with fantastical sculptures of animals, monsters, and other beasts. It’s an ideal day trip from Rome.
Enrico Toti: Italy’s One-Legged Cyclist Turned World War I Hero
Italian cyclist Enrico Toti may have the most fascinating World War I story I’ve ever read.
Rooted in Italy: The World’s First Botanical Gardens
It has been said (too many times) that all roads lead to Rome. But did you know that you could trace botanical medicine and even the environmental movement to 16th century Italy? It was here in the city of Pisa (1544) then Padua (1545) that the world’s first botanical gardens were set up. This month’s…
Falling For Italy: Three Fun Activities to Put on Your Italy Itinerary
Enjoy the outdoors in Italy with these three “fall” activities.
Five Best Beaches in Calabria
With more than 500 miles of coastline, wrapping around seaside villages and swooping cliffs, Calabria is packed with beaches in every shape, size, and color.
Exploring Italy’s Parks
Fall is a great time to explore Italy’s national and regional parks, what with the beautiful foliage changing colors and the majority of tourists – both Italian and international – having packed up their bags and headed home. Italy currently has 22 national parks – with two more in the process of being established –…
The Real Pinocchio
Last November, the New York Review of Books released Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio under its NYRB Classics imprint. The tale, as reviewed by Tim Parks in the latest issue, is much darker than the Disneyfied version. After the jump is Parks’ full review. As always, I urge you to subscribe to NYRB; they…
A Peaceful Oasis: Rome’s Protestant Cemetery
Rome’s leafy Protestant Cemetery is the final resting place for Keats, Shelley, and Gramsci.
A Snowy ‘Staycation’ in Rome
Skiing and sledding within a tank of gas from Rome.
Italian Villas and Their Gardens
Just in time for late spring and summer romps around Italy comes the reissue of Edith Wharton’s 1904 landscaping classic Italian Villas and Their Gardens.
What’s Old Is New Again: Rome’s Via Appia Antica
Now that we’ve entered the Holy Season, tourism to Rome is going to start heating up again quite quickly. Of course, you can follow the pilgrimage throngs around the Lenten Station circuit. Or, you can travel outside the city walls to check out the Via Appia Antica. David Farley’s one-day itinerary along the ancient road…
Coloring the Skies: Kite Festival in Umbria
This weekend, the incredibly picturesque town of Castiglione del Lago, located on the banks of Lake Trasimeno in Umbria, will become even more beautiful as the skies fill with kites of all shapes, sizes, and colors. The event is called Coloriamo i Cieli, and it features some of the world’s most interesting kites commandeered by…