My Italia! – Antonio Tonelli, La Tagliata

Executive chef Antonio Tonelli tells about La Tagliata, the exciting new Italian dining concept in London’s Spitalfields… What made you decide to come and work at La Tagliata? Mainly it was the enthusiasm of Carlo Palumbo, managing director of the restaurant, and the challenge involved in creating a place like home, where you always go back for […]

Fast Culture: Coppedè’s Quarter

Serious books on the architecture of Rome seldom mention Coppedè’s Quarter. If you enjoy it, you are indulging in a guilty pleasure! When Gino Coppedè was commissioned to design a residential complex in the Parioli section of Rome, he knew he needed a unifying fountain. Since the time of Marcus Agrippa, who established hundreds of […]

Top Tips For Verona

Planning a trip to Verona? See below for Lorenza Bacino’s tip on the things to see and do, what to eat and where to stay! WHAT TO SEE AND DO ➤ ARENA  +39 045 800 3204 Built in the 1st century AD, a 12th century earthquake destroyed most of the outside walls – only a small section […]

48 Hours in Palermo

Each region of Italy is unique, but there is none quite so different to the rest of the country as Sicily. James Miller finds he can’t keep away from its capital city… They say that Italy is a diverse cultural tapestry. Each region can be considered a country in its own right. There is one […]

Hidden Venice

Getting to know Venice is that much easier when your guide is a Venetian. Sara Scarpa takes us on a tour of the city she calls home… Most of my friends have already been to Venice at least once so when they come to visit me I show them the side of town that I […]

Pompeii Plaster Casts Undergo Restoration

Restoration work has begun on the plaster casts of 86 Pompeii victims. The poignant relics were created in the mid 19th century around the preserved remains of men, women and children killed during the 79AD disaster when Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying the Roman city. They offer a fascinating and deeply moving insight into how quickly the tragedy occurred, with some […]

48 Hours in Cagliari

“And suddenly there is Cagliari,“ wrote DH Lawrence. “A naked town rising steep, steep, golden-looking, piled naked to the sky.” Adrian Mourby explores this ancient Sardinian city… You have to choose your angle these days to see the Sardinian capital as Lawrence did in 1921, but the Aragonese fortress (known as Castello) still towers over […]

Santa Chiara

It was not until 1924, when the nuns of Santa Chiara in Naples swapped digs with the monks, that outsiders were allowed to view these beautiful tin-glazed earthenware tiles, known in Italy as maiolica. Music plays as men and women dance and flirt with each other, food and wine is quaffed with abandon; general merry-making […]

Puglian Pottery

Some ceramic pots await the kiln outside an artisan pottery in Puglia… This is a scene that an inhabitant from 2,000 years ago would readily recognise as a symbol of her homeland… The region of Puglia has been famed for its ceramics since the days of the Ancient Greeks – ie, some time before the […]

Alba White Truffle Fair

Jane Keightly discovers the wonderful world of truffles at perhaps the most famous truffle fair in all of Italy: The Alba White Truffle Fair… One of Italy’s most interesting seasonal events is the truffle season in Piedmont, when food lovers from all over the world descend upon the town of Alba for the International White […]