One Day In...

Taking its name from the Arabic for workshop, Venice’s Arsenale enormous shipyard was the real powerhouse of the city. Its 16,000 workers built an unrivalled navy enabling Venice to dominate eastern Mediterranean waters for centuries. They built galleons to transport …

Vranne at Maratea has been elected by Legambiente as the best beach in Italy, after a survey run amongst its supporters. Maratea is a town and comune of Basilicata, in the province of Potenza. It is the only town of …

The recent news that Pistoia has been selected as Italy’s “capital of culture” for the year 2017 was met by Italians themselves with some surprise and skepticism. To be sure, not many people here have ever seemed to be aware …

Forget Capri and Ischia. There is another island in the Gulf of Naples that’s a prettier and more authentically natural beauty just minutes away by boat. The ancient Greeks loved it. As did the patrician classes of the Roman Empire. …

With average temperatures in the high seventies and overnight lows in the high fifties, June will be one of your best summer months to visit the Lake Como area of Italy. The crowds of vacationers usually don’t descend until July …

The Amalfi Coast is  one of the most stunning places in Italy. I could describe this stretch of coastline in so many ways: beautiful, magnificent, captivating, appealing, alluring, gorgeous, and wonderful. As you know by now, the Amalfi Coast is …

I felt like I had just stepped into the Hobbit’s Shire when I arrived in the small whitewashed village of Alberobello. Little people scampering in and out of the tiny cone-roofed houses with hairy feet didn’t appear, however. Instead, the …

When I was in Umbria I stopped off at a small family-run winery just outside of Spello.  Enrico, the nephew of the owner (the only one who spoke English well enough to give the tour to an American) was on …

Castellina in Chianti is a small village of only 2,800 inhabitants. Its setting is along the Chiantigiana road that connects Florence to Siena. The village’s origins go back to Etruscan times that are reflected in the village architecture. The Florentine’s …

Founded by a legendary Trojan prince, occupied since Neolithic times and surrounded by fields of perfumed Lavender, Tuscania is the perfect hilltop spot to escape the summer heat of nearby Rome. Each July the village turns lilac as its annual …