Shropshire-based David and Leila Church bought a two-bedroom apartment on the southern side of Lake Garda twelve years ago. They stay there for a month every summer and make several week-long visits throughout the rest of the year. At other times they offer the apartment for holiday rentals through a local agency. What drew them to […]
Italy is blessed with an abundance of stunning lakes – from romantic giants with Alpine backdrops to crystalline volcanic beauties fringed by leafy hills to secret wild ponds in the middle of nowhere. Fleur Kinson helps you choose the right one for your taste and budget. When Italy isn’t busy wowing us with its stupendous […]
Overlooking the Strait of Messina, Scilla is a holiday haven, with a terrible story to tell… Now, don’t let it go spoiling your holiday, because this story isn’t true, but when Odysseus sailed through the Strait of Messina he faced a twin threat: on this side of the water, the Scylla, a sea monster who […]
The ruggedly beautiful Aspromonte National Park covers much of the bottom third of Calabria, the province that makes up the toe in Italy’s boot. Chris Allsop took a trip to this dramatic and often unfairly overlooked part of the country’s south. “They are like a net,” my guide in the city of Reggio Calabria told […]
Sara Scarpa spends a weekend in Modena, a city primarily famous for performance cars and the world’s best vinegar, but one that has much more to offer besides… After wandering along the cobbled streets in the centre of Modena, we finally reach a small, dark square with a few tables lit by a tall lamp. […]
We have recently learned that life expectancy in Italy is considerably higher than it is in the UK. Tom Alberto Bull wonders why this interesting claim might be true… Qual è il segreto? Le ultime statistiche rivelano che gli italiani vivono mediamente diciotto mesi più a lungo rispetto a noi britannici. E allora qual è […]
Isabella d’Este was the Marchesa of Mantua and the first lady of the Renaissance. Jane Keightley goes to Mantua to find out more about Isabella d’Este and the Gonzaga family she married into, to explore the Palazzo Ducale where she lived, and see the city she knew. The letter quoted below fair representation of Isabella’s character, […]
These days a resident of Bristol, Tom Alberto Bull sees the street art culture of Banksy’s home town with the perspective of someone who has seen similar phenomena in Naples and Bologna… An artist’s playground Since the emergence of world-renowned graffiti artists such as Banksy the street art scene has taken off globally – and […]
Isola Bella – or Ìsula Bedda, in the Sicilian language – is aptly named… The ‘Beautiful Island’ of Taormina isn’t the only place of this name in Italy. There is a perhaps more famous one on Lake Maggiore, but it is the only one in Sicily. It lies off the coast of Taormina and is […]
Sara Scarpa spends a weekend in Parma, a city famous the world over for its ham and cheese, but one that also has much more to offer visitors. We are all, of course, already very familiar with Parma: you must have had Parma ham, Parmesan cheese – and perhaps even a glass of the local Lambrusco before. These […]