All Around Italy

In so many ways, the Romans are ingrained in our ways of thinking. Many of our fundamental thoughts about life have been shaped and tested by the Romans and their writing. Cicero is among those writers. A formidable Roman politician …

Birthplace of artist Raphael, home to one of the most beautiful high Renaissance palaces in the country, UNESCO World Heritage site: you’d think the hilltop town of Urbino would be high up on the tourist wish list (no pun intended!). …

“More than 5,000 people currently in the U.S. are of San Fratello origin,” says Professor Salvatore Mangione, historian and former mayor of San Fratello, a village in the province of Messina, Sicily. “In the old times, immigrant villagers from San …

Where the sunrise lifts swirling rounds of swallows skyward over ancient terra-cotta to announce the day,  and cobbled streets host the daily walk of shop-keepers, artisans, and townsfolk as they have for over 1,500 years. Where ancient church towers sing …

Who doesn’t dream of traveling the world, lounging on a sun-kissed beach with a drink in hand, taking trips to new and exotic places every day to see the sea, or southern islands, or ancient architecture, and returning every night …

Maremma, southern Tuscany, is a timeless region with ancient roots. People have thrived here for centuries. From the Etruscans to the Medicis to today’s modern Tuscans all have left their mark. And its here, amongst the green hills, flat marshes …

I brought with me a little sachet of salt, a time-honored remedy to ward off evil spirits, when visiting two Medieval borghi on La Riviera dei Fiori whose history includes a bizarre story of witchcraft, envy, superstition and power. The …

The coming of Summer brings to each and every one of us different emotions: for school kids, it is synonym with holidays and mornings spent in bed. For city dwellers, it brings about frightful images of blasting AC in the …

Italy is a country rich in culture and history that should be unveiled to the entire international public: too often tourists only end up visiting Rome, Florence and Venice. It shouldn’t happen to someone who was born and raised abroad, …

California may have a lock on the production of almonds—the state produces more than 80 percent of the world’s supply—but if you have never tasted an almond grown in Sicily, you have never truly tasted an almond. Sicily combines the …