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Falling in love with a Tuscan villa in a serious state of disrepair transformed Frances Mayes’ life and career. Her tale of restoring Bramasole, in Cortona, is at the heart of Under the Tuscan Sun, her bestselling memoir and the film of the same name. Diane Lane played Mayes in the big screen version. She’s gone on to write eight more books about I...

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An iconic landscape and a symbol of Tuscany (and Italy) worldwide, the Val d'Orcia is an area of legendary beauty, recognised as a World Heritage Site in 2004. If you were asked to choose one image to represent Italy's most famous region abroad, you would probably think of these soft, colourful hills inland from Siena, on the border with Umbria. In...

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Brunello hails from the Tuscan town of Montalcino located in the Val d’Orcia, about 20 miles south of Siena.  This area was granted as a UNESCO world heritage site in 2004.  As most of Tuscany is known for it’s splendid landscapes, this area is rich in rolling hills, olive groves and forests.  It’s a rather close proximity to the Tyrrhenian Sea and...

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If you only see one statue on your trip to Italy, Michelangelo’s David is the one to see. Hailed as an instant classic from the day it was unveiled in 1504 (“….to tell the truth, this work eclipsed all other statues both modern and ancient,” wrote the great art historian Giorgio Vasari) its prestige has only grown in the ensuing 500 years. It’s a w...

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If you cannot think more than pizza and pasta as Italian food, you should visit the Tuscany capital, Florence. Although all of Italy are masters of diversified cuisine, Tuscany and her epicentre, Florence, perhaps stands alone in utilizing some unique animal parts and veggies to prepare delicious meals. Fondly labelled as the poor kitchen, Florenti...

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It seems that also French cooking was born from Tuscan cooking, a great boast for the Italian culinary tradition. This could be really possible because Caterina de’ Medici married Henry II of Volois, bringing with her, in her new French residence, some of the recipes of “home” and also ingredients such as olive oil and spinach. Tuscan cuisine is si...

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The month of November can be an ideal time of the year for a holiday in Italy. The low season makes every destination lower cost than usual, as well as providing the advantage of being able to better enjoy the artistic and natural beauty of the Peninsula in a quieter and less congested by great tourism. Here are some recommended destinations for an...

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Lampredotto is a dish which arouses different reactions in those who taste it. Either you hate it or you love it. Today it can be found in roadside stands, in food trucks, in food markets, but it is also having a new life in restaurants, thanks to the rediscovery of traditional Tuscan dishes. Its etymology has a rather curious history. Lamprey was...

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When you say Halloween in Italy, there are still those who turn up their noses because we give space to a product and a holiday that does not belong to us. But are we sure of this? We all know that it's an American holiday with an Irish tradition dating back to Celtic times. But there is a good chance that Halloween in Italy existed before the Celt...

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If one was asked to name a true genius, two names are likely to commonly come up, Albert Einstein and Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath in the High Renaissance. He was a genius who was an engineer, scientist, theorist, draughtsman, painter, sculptor, and architect. He is an icon and symbol of the Renaissance and a truly r...

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