paula reynolds

String some lights, hang a wreath, decorate the tree, and deck the halls with every form of green and red imaginable – Christmas is nigh! But have you polished up your Urn of Fate – fattened your Fasson ox – …

It might well be the next “Greatest Show on Earth,” even if the monkeys and clowns are missing. It’s no circus, however.   The first “artainment” of its kind, Giudizio Universale brings to life the narrative of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel …

The last gasps of summer play out over the Italian landscape – a land grateful for the sun’s energizing warmth, but oh-so-ready for fall’s cooler temps and bountiful harvests. Undulating hillsides lay decorated with purple-red grape clusters dripping jewel-like from …

Italy’s towers are an integral part of her appeal, yet comparatively few remain. At the height of its development, Lucca boasted 250 towers; today has only 3. The hilltop town of San Gimignano holds the honor of best representing what …

Ferrara: oh, the tragedy of having overlooked this beauty of an Italian city for so many years! But we’re in the good company of a whole lot of other folks, it seems, with their heads in the Italian sand. Thankfully, …

“Salute!” — the clink-clink of glasses resounds like church bells throughout Italy as the late afternoon begins to dissolve towards evening. It’s aperitivo time – that glorious hour or two (or three) when the busy-ness of the day is set …

Ah, prosciutto – that lovely, pink hued, paper-thin sliced meat that has delighted Italy’s residents for at least 3,000 years. Perhaps not as romanticized as wine or olive oil (anyone for a cozy picnic in a pig pen or butcher …

Come to the beach where the sea is blue, and little white waves come running at you. A wave comes splashing, over your toes; you just stand still, and away it goes. We’ll build a castle down by the sea …

She lies just south of Siena, this stark yet soft and wizened land. Her sensuously rolling landscape is ever-changing — breathtakingly alluring when bathed in the play of shadows and sunlight, moody and dark when clouds obscure the sky. Iconic …

Part of the intrigue of Tuscany is the abundance of small hamlets and villages. Scattered across the rural landscape like precious gems awaiting discovery, the charms and beauties of these ancient borghi are many. Off the SR2 thoroughfare from Siena …