Travel

There is a place in southern Tuscany, just near the border with the Lazio region, to which vacationers, as well as art historians and culture lovers from all over the world, have long been attracted: its name is Porto Ercole. …

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 …

Ironically enough, musical genius Frank Zappa and a 13th century poet, Cielo d’Alcamo, had some important things in common. These artists so vastly disparate in time and space share an iconoclastic spirit and the colors of two neighboring cities in northwest Sicily. The …

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 …

For the longest time, Bologna has been happily known as “The Learned,” “The Fat,” or “The Red.” Until a few months ago, however, the city seemed to have lost her fame of capitale dei tortellini and of traditional delis with …

One of the cons about traveling to Italy is the country has so many touristic hot spots it’s almost impossible to enjoy some quiet. One of the pros of traveling to Italy is that for each of those hot spots …

Wander the back streets of Murano and you can hear the roar of furnaces behind blind factory walls. The air trembles and there’s a perpetual orange glow in the high clerestory windows that remain just out of reach. It is …

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 …

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 …