How to Spend One Year in Italy
How do you spend one year in Italy? Here’s a month-by-month, personal account of my first year living and traveling in Italy.
tuscany
The Best Ever In-Depth Video of Siena’s Palio
Inspiration always seems to find me when I’m not looking and that is exactly what happened as I settled in to watch a few minutes of television last night. Lucky for me, I clicked over to Kenny Mayne’s Wider World of Sports, a show on ESPN that puts sports into a cultural context. One of…
Give the Gift of Italian Culture
When my colleagues in the Italy Blogging Roundtable and I decided to write on the topic “gifts” for our December post, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. I knew straight away that I didn’t want to write about Italian gifts you can buy in a store, though there are many I desire…
My September 11th in Florence
Every year, as we approach the anniversary of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, I think back to what I was doing that day. In fact, I was in Florence. So this year I thought I would share my recollections of the event from the perspective of a tourist in Italy. This may not…
Five Favorites: Art in Tuscany
To many a traveler, Tuscany and art are synonymous. From the architecture to the numerous galleries to those gorgeous, green, and cliché hills, there’s an element of art in every corner of Tuscany.
Travel Secrets: 3 of My Favorite “Secret” Places in Italy
Coming up with three of my best travel secrets for Italy is no easy task. Alas, I’ve been tagged by Robin Locker at My Mélange to come up with my list, just as she has over at her blog. In fact, since I had difficulty paring down my favorites, I’ve come up with my non-Italy…
Five Favorites: Lucca
Italofile guest contributor writes about five of her favorite things in the city of Lucca in Tuscany.
Vampires in Volterra: ‘Twilight’ Tourism in Tuscany
New Moon, the second book in the Twilight series, has some scenes set in the Tuscan town of Volterra. Learn more about Volterra, including its vampire tour.
True Crime in Tuscany: The Monster of Florence
The Monster of Florence is a true crime tale about a serial killer who terrorized the Tuscan hills around Florence for almost 20 years.
Rumblings in the Wine World: The Brunello di Montalcino Wine Scandal
It has been a little under two weeks since Italy announced the findings in the Brunello di Montalcino scandal. In case you haven’t been following this case, Italian authorities — prompted by the United States — started an investigation to find out whether some renowned manufacturers of Brunello di Montalcino were making their wines with…
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…
Keeping Up With the Antinori
Italian wine enthusiasts (that includes most of us, right?) may find this past weekend’s 60 Minutes story on Italy’s Antinori family intriguing. Considered one of Italy’s premier winemaking clans, the Antinori have been in the wine business for more than 500 years. Today, even the Antinori daughters are in on the act. To learn more…
Wine Routes in Tuscany
Tuscany has more than a dozen wine routes. These are known collectively as Le Strade del Vino.
The Ultimate Italian Driving Adventure
If you’re the type of traveler who likes to go it alone and doesn’t mind injecting a little technological know-how into your trip, then a GPS-driven self-guided tour may be the ticket. Information about Zephyr Self-Guided Adventures through Italy just crossed our desks over the weekend. The company offers walks, biking, and driving tours through…
Kid-Friendly Tours of Florence
Florence may feel like a fairy tale city for adults, but kids aren’t always impressed. That’s mostly because they’ve yet to study or appreciate the art, architecture, and history that have made the Tuscan town one of the world’s most favored destinations for generations. Enter Context Travel. The walking tour company, which I have mentioned in…
‘Monster of Florence’ and ‘Rome 1960’: Two Of Summer’s Most Intriguing Reads Are Set in Italy
I am supremely excited about two new nonfiction books this summer: The Monster of Florence and Rome 1960. Both books describe tumultuous times in central Italy. The first is a period of time in Florence when an unknown predator (or predators) “stalked lovers’ lanes in the countryside.” The second goes in-depth about the 1960 Olympic…
Renaissance Florence According to Rushdie
Salman Rushdie imagines Renaissance Florence in his new book “The Enchantress of Florence.”
The Lost Leonardo
News program 60 Minutes investigates the discovery of “The Lost Leonardo,” a long-missing mural by Leonardo da Vinci.