Advice on how to live "la dolce vita"
Spending The Winter Holidays In Florence Of all the seasons to spend in Florence, winter is by far my favourite. Free at last from the multitudes that throng the city all spring and summer, Florence slips quietly into a state of hibernation. It’s left up to the locals to provide the faint pulse of everyday …
Spending The Winter Holidays In Venice Seldom is Venice’ appellation La Serenissima more appropriate than in winter. Mist shrouds the lagoon and its main island, cloaking gondoliers and boatsmen who emerge from out of nowhere as if floating through a fog. By night, Venice’s walkways and bridges are empty, eerie – completely silent were it …
How To Celebrate Thanksgiving In Florence Thanksgiving is fast approaching – and with a national holiday right around the corner you might be thinking of travelling to Italy. This year, the last Thursday of the month falls on November 22nd, a quiet if not slightly chilly time in Florence as the days grow shorter and …
The Unknown Leonardo Da Vinci Photo credit: Smithsonian Journeys Of the venerated titans of Florence’s cultural Renaissance, none left quite the same mark as Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 – 1519). The polymath, artist, and inventor was, in the words of his biographer Giorgio Vasari, blessed with “a beauty of person never sufficiently admired” and invested with …
Reasons To Visit Rome In The Fall There are delightful and completely legitimate reasons why locals prefer Roma in the fall; the temperatures are ideal, fall foods and festivals are abundant, and there are fewer crowds throughout La Città Eterna or The Eternal City. Visitors will also enjoy Rome in autumn, rather than in the …
Italy’s Ten Fall Flavors As the weather changes from the humid heat of summer to the cooler temperatures of fall, Italian meals become warmer, heartier, and full of fall fruits, vegetables, grains, and meats. Both lunch and dinner are often consumed as hot meals. Some fall favorites are risottos, which are made with rice; …
Visiting Florence In Fall As the days grow shorter and Florence’s streets start to empty, the renaissance city takes on a new and exciting lease of life. Having once again survived the sweltering bustle of summer, Florence becomes far more slow-paced and relaxed — an autumnal city very much beginning to wind down for the …
BERNINI’S ART IN ROME Born in 1598 in Naples, Gian Lorenzo Berninibecame the most iconic sculptor of the seventeenth century. Working most of his life in Rome, the center of European art at the time, Bernini pushed the art world into the intense, emotional Baroque style, after the more classical Renaissance style, which had dominated …
Eating Like An Italian: Food Norms, Beliefs, And Etiquette Italians live to relish the flavors of their culinary traditions; freshly picked vine tomatoes, handmade pastas, doughy salted breads, perfectly cured meats, mouthwatering mozzarella, and sharp shots of coffee, just to name a few. Typically, Italians enjoy all of their quintessential foods and drinks without …
Visiting Chianti On A Budget For many, the Tuscan region of Chianti is the quintessence of rural Italy. It stretches from Florence in the north to Siena in the south, encapsulating an idyllic landscape of lush, rolling hills, ripe, fertile vineyards and solitary stone farmhouses. In short Chianti is an image of paradise, which makes …