francesca bezzone

Italian celebrations for International Women’s Day are, usually, rather cliché: journalists and TV hosts become experts of women history and sociology, bringing out their customary speeches for the occasion, only to forget it all the following day, when they focus …

For some reason, I like to compare cities to beautiful female figures: Turin, which I know very well, is an elegant and haughty princess with a knack for the occult. Venice is coquette, colorful and well aware of her unequalled …

From North to South, from East to West, Italy is a beautiful chest filled with mysterious treasures. Bones of dragons and alchemic doors, secret symbols to warn against the Devil and dark ladies of the Renaissance, our trip through the …

When I was a child, Carnevale was the occasion to don some improbable outfit, usually involving satin gowns and glitter or, depending on the mood of the year, a musketeer hat and a plastic sword. Possibly already nodding to what …

The nature of mystery is manyfold and there is certainly more to it than supernatural events, haunted locations and unsolved murders. Mystery, sometimes, lies also in our impossibility to interpret a habit or a specific moment in history, to understand …

As usual, Cicero is illuminating: “a life without music is like a body without its soul.”  There’s an undeniable truth in his words the people of his motherland, glorious Rome, always kept in mind. Indeed, the Romans loved music and …

The Alba White Truffle  is an old acquaintance of mine. Actually, is much more than that, is a real childhood friend. Born and bred on the luscious hills of Piemonte, with the silvery peaks of Monviso and Bisalta just outside …

My region, Piemonte, is known for its good cheeses: Tùma, Raschera, Castelmagno, robiola di Roccaverano are only a handful of the many delicious and fragrant milk-based delicacies it has to offer. You understand that loving cheese and that other typical …

While I write, I’m sitting in my own house in the hills of the Langhe, a good feet of snow outside. It’s that time of the year when the scent of mandarins’ peels burned on the stove fills homes all …

Italy is known all over the world for its ceramics. Indeed, handmade and hand painted pottery is common all over the country, from north to south: colorful and bold or understated and elegant, you can find almost everything made of …