We all know Venice’s reputation: exquisite, unique, and inspiring on the one hand, but packed, fragile, and confusing on the other. Many visitors to Venice find themselves both awestruck and frustrated as they get lost in its seemingly interminable maze of back alleys, all of which seem to lead back to the Piazza San …
Rather like England’s New Forest, which received that name almost 1,000 years ago, Venice is full of things labeled novo, whose novelty is relative to the age of the city. The most important of these is the Strada Nova (New Street) which since its completion in 1871 has been the main thoroughfare from Venezia …
It has become one of my fundamental beliefs that you cannot find croissants in Italy. There are things that look like croissants, usually called brioche or cornetti, served up and down the country for breakfast in bars, but buy one and you will soon discover the difference between these sweetmeats and the traditional salt-and-butter …
In Italy, even the flavours of gelato are custom to the whims of fashion. There are a couple of flavours, very common when I was a child in the 1980s, which you very rarely find nowadays, but which for me say still say Italian summer.
Last week I was invited by Eating Italy Food Tours to take part in their new guided tour, The Other Side of Florence. The tour covers two quarters of the Oltrarno area, San Frediano and Santo Spirito on the southern side of the river, and area not usually visited by tourists despite their proximity …
If Bologna is the city of colonnades, Modena, its near neighbour is the city of bicycles. There are hundreds all over the town and are the preferred way for the locals to navigate the centro storico lending the city a tranquil air. There are also colonnades which give the town the look of a small …
