chiara dalessio

If you love wine, you know the name Barolo: known as the King of Italian reds, Barolo is a DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita, or “controlled and guaranteed designation of origin”) wine produced with Nebbiolo grapes from the …

Dozza Imolese is a quaint village of about 6000, that quietly sits on the rolling pre-Apennine hills outside Bologna. One of FAI’s most beautiful borghi, its name may fail to evoke any memory of important works of art or historical …

Ah! Beauty!  The gift of the gods to their subjects, inspiration to literature, poetry and art of all forms and colors. Its canons may change from decade to decade,   but its essence remains the same, lifeblood of human creativity …

Have you ever heard of Atrani? Well, if you haven’t, you are in for a pleasant surprise.  Located a mere 1/2 mile from Amalfi (I am sure you are familiar with this one!), Atrani is one of  Italy’s Borghi più …

Christmas is finally here and the heavens know how badly we need some seasonal cheer this year. It’s been a hard 12 months and we deserve some peace, quite and pandoro, let me tell you. What’s beautiful about this time …

Rome is holy, Turin is esoteric but Naples is the Italian city with the closest relationship with the Otherworld, in all its forms. It’s not because of what is there physically — although, we will see, there are some spots …

When current mayor of Rome Virginia Raggi was elected, she made it quite  clear that banning botticelle was one of her aims. These traditional horse-drawn carriages  are  as romantic as they are, alas, unjust. Throughout the years, episodes of animals …

To non-Italians, the name Stromboli probably means very little. The 12-sq-km island is part of the Aeolian archipelago and is home to not more than 300 people, divided into two small villages. Most notably, though, Stromboli is home to the …

Delightful mandolino is a symbol of Neapolitan culture and music that, outside of Italy, came to symbolize the Bel Paese as a whole. Almost two centuries of migration towards all corners of the world, especially of people coming from the …

What a peculiar summer this is: if it weren’t for the unbearable heat, it wouldn’t feel like a summer at all. Don’t get me wrong, Italians didn’t renounce to their Ferragosto-by-the-sea tradition, in fact, they’ve been letting loose a tad …