Exploring Mount Etna

Mount Etna casts a long shadow as Amanda Robinson discovers when she visits Taormina in Sicily. The sun was suspended in the hot still air, as the tiny lizards dodged from one cool shadow to another. The midday campanile rang out from the tiny baroque church on the hillside, followed by the plangent strains of […]

48 Hours In Milan

Marina Spironetti has made her home in Italy’s second city and reveals her insider secrets to help you make the most of a weekend visit When I made the well-thought out decision of moving back to Milan after 12 years living between London and Paris, a dear friend gave me a guidebook as a present. […]

Gourmet Guide To Florence

As well as its touristic delights, Florence has more than its fair share of excellent dining options. Oliver Hunter shares with us some of his favourite haunts… Someone once told me that to live a happy life I should surround myself with beauty. Well, if I was to take up that advice seriously I would […]

Tuscany’s Top 10 Beauty Spots

Tuscany is rightly recognised as being one of the world’s most beautiful regions – here we highlight ten of our favourite destinations that justify this claim… 1. BAGNO VIGNONI HOT SPRINGS, VAL D’ORCIA While traditional towns may have a main town square in their centre, in Bagno Vignoni it is simply a huge thermal pool. […]

Harvesting Holidays

The olive harvest is something everyone should see at least once. If you have never experienced it yourself now is the time to earn your share of this year’s crop… Spirit of Italy Holidays Guests will visit an olive pressing facility and bring home a bottle of oil. Harvest Italia 2014, presented by Spirit of […]

World Dance Movement, Italy, July 6-27

World Dance Movement returns to Italy this weekend, for three weeks of classes, galas, competition and performance in the beautiful Puglian town of Castellana Grotte. The study-vacation event introduces dancers and educators to an international faculty of great talent. World Dance Movement is a leader in the international dance scene – a respected source for […]

My Italia! Charlotte Jaconelli

Charlotte Jaconelli and partner Jonathan Antoine finished as runners-up in Britain’s Got Talent in 2012. What is she up to now? Charlotte talks to My Italia! Do you ever wake up thinking it must all be a dream? Oh definitely, that’s the only way you can describe it. No matter how much experience you have […]

Michelangelo’s David still standing

Michelangelo’s David still standing… on fractured ankles Bad posture can lead to joint problems in the fittest of us, and standing slouched against a tree stump for over half a millennium seems to have caught up with Michelangelo’s statue of David. Scientists have discovered “micro-fractures on the lower part of both legs”, likely caused by […]

Salvatore Ferragamo

My mother in law remembers shopping for shoes at Ferragamo in Florence many moons ago and Salvatore Ferragamo would be there with his leather apron around his waist. The shop is still the same, located in the magnificent Palazzo Spini Feroni, built in the 13th century by Geri Spini, in the most elegant area of […]

Echoes of Love

  Hannah Fielding talks about the inspiration for her new romantic novel, The Echoes of Love, which is set in the splendour of Venice… What made you fall in love with Venice? Its history, grandeur and beauty. I love the red sunsets on the canal that turn the water to fire, and then Venice at […]