How to do a foodie tour of Venice

bacarando in corte dell Orso

Sara Scarpa shares her tips for taking in Venice’s gastronomic highlights like a local, and finding the very best places to eat and drink in the city… Photos by Iain Reid In her article Giro d’ombre: a cicchetti and wine tour of Venice Sara Scarpa shares the Venetian version of the pub crawl with us. This […]

Where to eat in Venice

cicchetti at ai zemei, venice

Sara Scarpa loves the tradition of the Venetian pub crawl, and here she shares some of her favourite venues for great wine and authentic cicchetti… Photos by Iain Reid Antica Osteria Ruga Rialto (left) Located off the same main calle, just a few metres along on the way to San Polo, this is an historical osteria […]

Top five Italian gardens

villa d'este

We explore five of our favourite green spaces in Italy… how many of them have you visited and which are on your to-visit list? Photos by iStock unless otherwise stated 1. Featuring Italy’s most dramatic baroque gardens, Lake Maggiore’s Isola Bella is a horticultural paradise. The Borromeo villa occupies the centre of the island, while the […]

Una piccola sosta: Hotel Heureka, Venice

Lobby of Hotel Heureka, Venice

Step through the doors of this restored palazzo in Cannaregio – where modern design meets the architecture of the past… Words by Amanda Robinson, photos by Hotel Heureka    On a quiet backwater in Cannaregio, you could easily walk past the unprepossessing entrance to Hotel Heureka, a 16th-century palazzo revived and reopened in 2017. Just […]

The Villa of the Papyri, Herculaneum

Mosaic of Neptune and Amphitrite in Herculaneum

We are still making discoveries at Herculaneum, and computer technology may be about to reveal something very special, says Joe Gartman… Photos by Patricia Gartman   It’s been ten years or more since I saw the little, old-fashioned wooden display cases sitting in a deserted room of the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. When I […]

To Arezzo for lunch

Arezzo Cathedral, Tuscany, Italy

Rachael Martin took a road trip from Milan to Arezzo to discover the secrets of this Etruscan town and experience its famous antiques market  Photos by Rachael Martin unless otherwise stated   We were planning our regular Easter break with the kids and we had all agreed that this year we would be going to […]

Five reasons to visit Padua

Padua Prehistoric baths

Lorenza Bacino goes beyond the city’s obvious attractions to discover five things to see and do in Padua that will make any visit extra-special… Photos by Lorenza Bacino unless otherwise stated Padua is often overlooked by travellers in favour of the more famous Veneto cities of Venice and Verona, yet this pretty city between Venice […]

Rome for families travel guide

Pantheon, Rome with kids

Rome may not seem like the obvious choice for a family break, but if you plan it right, it can be a fantastic destination for the whole clan, says Beth Al Rikabi… Photos by Beth Al Rikabi If you’re planning to head to Rome with little ones, these quick tips for happy family travel in […]

Rome for families

Rome for families

Having explored Rome’s nooks and crannies several times over, Beth Al Rikabi delves into the city once more on a multi-generational family holiday… Photos by Beth Al Rikabi  It was while I was cheffing at a yoga retreat amongst the mellow green folds of the Sabine Hills, with the city an hour’s train ride away, that […]