All Around Italy

Water carries life within: nothing could be and exist without it. Water is also frightful, because of its power, which destroys and obliterates. A force and a blessing of nature, water is mirror of life and death, its very appearance …

Used since ancient times for cooking, cosmetics and curative properties, saffron is the wonderfully aromatic queen of spices. The Greeks used it to fight toothache whilst the Romans used it in fish sauce recipes. And since the 1200s Italians have …

Fubine is evocative in autumn with the deep reds, yellows and browns of fallen leaves. You hear the crackle underfoot as you walk the countryside around the small town set amid the first gentle hills of the Monferrato region. Vineyards …

Rome’s Spanish Steps are famous around the globe. As too are Venice’s stepped bridges crossing her countless canals. And the Vatican Museum’s Bramante spiral stairway is one of the most photographed in the world. But Italy is also home to …

Indeed, at the times of the Empire, all roads led to Rome, especially when you think the Romans are behind the creation of the first Italian and European communication arteries in history. Don’t we all know about the Via Aurelia, …

Fall is my favorite season. Yes, I love chestnuts, truffles, cardigans, chunky scarves and pumpkin pies. But the real reason I love the fall is another, it’s the dark. The dark  brings about hints of wintry chill, mixed with the …

Venice at the height of its power conjures images of merchant traders, carnival masks and debauchery. But for all its decadence Venetian life was governed by a well-established democracy with strict standards of behavior that held society together. The State …

It’s a scientific fact (as if we needed proof) that fresh salt air, serene blue seas, and sand sifting between our toes is the best stress busting recipe around. But when done Sicilian style, the experience elevates to 5-star gourmet …

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, …

You probably know them better as Phlegraean Fields and may be aware they’re not far from Naples and the Vesuvius. Those who studied a bit of Classics in school may remember the Romans, and the Greeks before them, had a …