In a small town in Puglia, at the edge of the Piazza San Francesco, stands the Calvary of Manduria in Puglia, the work of a 19th-century artist… Photo by Getty Images Calvary (also known as Golgotha) was the hill where Jesus Christ was crucified, and a calvary (calvario in Italian) is an artistic representation of […]
A troupe of marionettes patiently await their curtain call in the warehouse of Carlo Colla & Sons before a show in Milan last year… Photo by Leonello Bertolucci/Getty Images In May this year, the Carlo Colla & Figli marionette company hosted a special show, La Poesia della Meccanica (The Poetry of Mechanics), in Milan to […]
Bosa Marina is the area that is interesting international property buyers right now, but the coloured houses of the old town of Bosa have their charm too… Photo by Getty Images Regular readers will recall that we visited Bosa in our ‘Homes in Sardinia’ feature recently. This is the first coastal town of notable size […]
It may not command the location of the Rialto Bridge, but the Bridge of Sighs is arguably the greater achievement and perhaps Venice’s most beautiful bridge… Photo by Getty Images Steve Marriott crossed “over Bridge of Sighs, to rest [his] eyes in shades of green,” but he was speaking psychedelically. The bridge leads not to […]
The Botanical Gardens at Villa Taranto in Pallanzo on the shore of Lake Maggiore were established in the 1930s by a Scotsman called Neil Boyd Watson McEacharn… Photo by iStock/ Getty Images Captain Neil Boyd Watson McEacharn (1884-1964) was educated at Eton and Oxford and developed his passion for gardening after his father bought Galloway House […]
The sun catches the peak of Monte Cervino, aka the Matterhorn, as it sets over the Italian border with Switzerland in Val d’Aosta… Photo by Getty Images It is the region of Dolomites, at the eastern end of Italy’s northern border, that is most famous for the phenomenon of the enrosadira, the ‘pinkening’ of the mountains […]
Six rowers, all dressed as Father Christmas, cut a steady course across the Venetian lagoon on their mission to deliver presents to children… Photo by Getty In the far north of Italy, the bringer of gifts is St Nicholas, who comes on December the 6th, while children who have not been good may expect a […]
The Amalfi Coast’s breathtaking ‘Path of the Gods’ stretches from the hilltop town of Bomerano to Nocelle, a frazione of Positano Photo by Getty Images The ‘Path of the Gods’ – Il Sentiero degli Dei – is an eight-mile walk over some of the finest views the Amalfi Coast has to offer. You can walk […]
The Piazza del Popolo in Todi is one of the best-preserved medieval squares in Italy and very much the focal point of this scenic Umbrian town… This photograph of Todi’s Piazza del Popolo was taken from the steps of the Cathedral, which before the 15th century had stood more centrally in what was then a much […]
Looking out into the Tyrrhenian Sea from Sicily’s Zingaro National Park… a view that has mesmerised mankind since time immemorial Sicily’s Riserva naturale dello Zingaro is a spectacular place. The park includes land, sea and beaches and is home to many varieties of endemic flora and fauna. Here also is the Grotto dell’Uzzo, one of the […]