If you live in Italy you probably already have your fornitore (supplier) of extra virgin olive oil who, around this time of year, takes orders for the new harvest’s “liquid gold”, or sim...
Continue reading Volterra: Art, Wine and Minerals at ArtTrav.
Continue reading Prato: Art & Museums in Tuscany’s Industrial City at ArtTrav.
The thing I missed the most during the long covid lockdown here in Italy was the great outdoors. Vast expanses of sky, fluffy clouds, birdsong, fresh air… All I really wanted was to get back...
https://www.arttrav.com/tuscany/summer-2020-tuscany-wine-tourism/
I thought I knew every corner of Tuscany – after 20 years here, I’m only missing the Lunigiana. But somehow I’d never been to LIVORNO, so when I was invited by Barbara and Giorgia of Aga...
UPDATED 2020! A few years ago I had the most incredible experience of dining in the cloister of the Convent of San Marco, near the Last Supper. A delicious dinner and wines, and a most uniqu...
The TRUFFLE HUNTER, much like his cousin the porcini hunter, is a lone beast. Out at the crack of dawn with his faithful dog, armed with a spade and dressed in camouflage, he moves under cover...
Giorgio Vasari called the SIENA DUOMO FLOOR “the most beautiful, big and magnificent that has ever been done.” Normally this floor is covered by carpets to protect it from the footsteps of...
At Follonico, a hilltop B&B near the CRETE SENESI (between the Valdorcia and the Valdichiana), life slows down as you step into ORGANIC, LOCAL LIVING, listen to the sound of the birds and frog...
When I found out that I’d won second place in an Instagram challenge run by BOLGHERI WINEMAKER MICHELE SATTA last Fall, I was excited both to stock up on wine and to finally have an excuse t...
The other day I was leading a guest lecture for American study abroad students for a program in Florence. The topic is one rather unlike the “old days” when I stood in front of classes tea...
If you’ve ever watched a movie mostly for the costumes, Sofia Copola’s 2006 film “Marie Antoinette” might have been it. For this movie about personal feelings, excess and adolescent be...
https://www.arttrav.com/tuscany/marie-antoinette-film-costumes/
I spend as many weekends as possible in MAREMMA, an area of Tuscany that Tommaso and I have kind of adopted, having purchased a small home in a tiny hill town a few years ago. The area retains...
VITALITÀ is a newly founded CULTURAL ASSOCIATION in Tuscany. Their mission, inspired by the deep-rooted intrinsic connection between art and nature, is to promote art that emphasizes human aw...
https://www.arttrav.com/tuscany/vitalita-cultural-association/
I dedicated this weekend to the oldest profession in the book. No, not prostitution – I’d be even worse at that. Something that came before that: FORAGING. A practice that harks back to th...
If you think of Italy and carnevale, chances are the elegant masks of Venice come to mind. But anyone who has spent any amount of time in Tuscany will have heard of the famous VIAREGGIO CARNEV...
I have had the good fortune, these past few years, of experiencing some ABSOLUTELY AMAZING HOTELS AND RESORTS IN ITALY. As I write them up on the blog, I think about how each one stands out fo...
A golden spaceship has descended upon PRATO, Florence’s industrial and multicultural neighbour. A sort of metal flame pulsates from above, wanting to be a radio signal that both diffuses and...
There are some hotels that leave you speechless for the level of luxury (like this one), others that dazzle with modernity and discretion (like this one); and then there are hotels where the p...