All Around Italy

A highlight of travel to Italy in the first quarter of the year is Carnival Season or as they say Carnevale. Celebrations are held roughly 40 days before Easter which falls on March 31st this year. The biggest, most elaborate …

The second landmark in our tour of the “houses of the House of Medici” in Florence is the one and only Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace). Built around the year 1300 as Palazzo dei Priori (Priors’ Palace), the worldwide-known building overlooking …

A small Medieval town perched on a hill is one of the sights that define the Tuscan landscape. You’ll have heard of San Gimignano and Cortona, but there’s another smaller and equally characterful town out there amongst the olive groves …

Combining simple, local ingredients with tradition, a dash of history and never-ending love Mantuan cuisine is known as the food of princes and people. Many dishes date back to the days of the House of Gonzaga, a princely family that …

The House of Medici. To anyone the name of this powerful Florentine family is in and of itself a synonym for the Italian Renaissance. But how many do really know about the origins, history and art patronage of the dynasty which …

Shakespeare’s famous “Fair Verona” may have been the ideal setting for his story about the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, but modern Verona has become a city with a wonderful mixture of those historic elements and contemporary Italian culture. It …

The third and last official residence of the Medici in Florence is the grandiose Palazzo Pitti. Located at the foot of the Boboli hill in the Oltrarno quarter, just past the Ponte Vecchio, the palace now hosts the city’s largest …

The opportunity to visit Firenze, the capital of Tuscany and the Renaissance, is something nobody should ever miss. It is an experience to be lived at least once in a lifetime. Why? Because Florence is certainly one of the most …

From scarlet undies to pig’s trotters, fireworks to fearless bridge divers or tombola to fat ox parades, Italians love to celebrate the New Year with some wonderful traditions. It’s all to help usher in good luck and a good year. …

Off the usual touristic beaten tracks lays the point of the Italian boot, Calabria. Italian Americans are probably well aware of its beauty and amazing traditions and history, as a large part of the community originated, at its very beginning, …