Travel

When it came time to buy our Christmas tree this year, we once again had to do so without the use of a boat, which my six-year-old son, Sandro, who seems to have a native Venetian’s strict sense of life’s …

Everyone knows that people on vacation, let loose from the rigors of their daily lives and desperate for a good time, are prone to do some pretty dumb things. And as everyone has long known—from the ancient Greeks, through Shakespeare, …

There aren’t many towns in Northern Italy that hold more charm than the small city of Mantua, Mantova in Italian, one of Lombardy’s hidden gems. Overlooked by most tourists en route from Milan to Venice, Mantua charms its visitors with …

Due civiltà che si incontrano, due epoche lontane nel tempo, lo stesso luogo magico e misterioso dove mito e realtà si confondono. Questa è la storia di Nardodipace, un piccolo comune sull’Altopiano Meridionale della Calabria, vicino Serra San Bruno, provincia …

These are the first few words of a popular Italian nursery rhyme about the Befana, the old woman who delivers gifts to children around Italy on the night between the 5th and the 6th of January.   Old and wrinkly, …

    La religiosità delle genti di montagna è da sempre legata alla vita pratica quotidiana, ai ritmi dei lavori agricoli e della natura, ispirata a sentimenti semplici e sinceri la devozione popolare ha lasciato, nel corso dei secoli, segni …

C’era una volta Luni. Con il suo fiorente porto, costruito sulla foce del fiume Magra,  nel quale si imbarcavano i preziosi marmi delle Apuane. C’era una volta Luni, fondata nel 177 a.C. dai romani dopo un’aspra battaglia contro i fieri …

Basilica di San Clemente wasn’t anywhere on my itinerary for Rome.  It wasn’t in my notes, it wasn’t in my list of “if I have time’s”.  I wound up stumbling upon it, curious about the relatively plain exterior only because …

I hear a lot of people say they’re scared of driving in Italy and I, myself, had a terrifying driving experience there a couple weeks ago (involving me trying to drive a manual car through a round-about having only ever …

In a few days towns all over Italy will start celebrating Carnevale, a festive and somewhat chaotic holiday popular in most Catholic countries. The festivity takes place every year in the winter, sometimes in February, sometimes in March, right before Lent. …