Parmigiano Reggiano is one of the oldest and richest cheeses in the world. It is essentially produced like 9 centuries ago: using the same ingredients (milk, salt and rennet), with the same craftsmanship and production technique that has undergone very few changes over the centuries, thanks to the decision to keep a fully natural production, withou...

It is just after dawn on Italy’s Po river and Rudi, the captain of our hotel barge, La Bella Vita, is running a broom over the sun deck. Autumn’s mellow fruitfulness is working its magic, and were it not for a white heron, tree-hopping from one side of the wooded shoreline to the other, I could be in a still life. As I capture the golden horizon, R...

Seven works and six Italian street artists are competing for the world's most beautiful murals. They are part of the ranking of 100 works collected by the "Street Art Cities" platform in 92 cities in 30 countries to democratically elect by online app vote the best mural work created in 2022. And among the roller- and spray-painted facades of Buenos...

This is the story of a boy born in the United States, but an Italian citizen. It's the story of a boy who one day decided to stop jumping and start running and from last year's Tokyo Olympic Games to the present day, has become the fastest and most successful athlete in the world. This is the story of Marcell Lamont Jacobs, a young Texan, born in E...

After years of disagreement, local officials and Italy’s umbrella Jewish group reached an agreement to turn an armory built on top of a centuries-old Jewish cemetery into a “House of Remembrance” museum. The Jewish cemetery of San Nicolò is located in Mantua, a small northern Italian town in the Po Valley with a Jewish history dating back to the 12...

In 2008, Mantua and Sabbioneta were listed by UNESCO in the World Heritage List: Sabbioneta represents the concept of an ideal city built according to the Renaissance theories, while Mantua is the perfect expression of the transformation of a city according to similar canons. This corner of Lombardy is rich in history and art, thanks to effort of t...

Commissioned by the Duke of Mantua Federico II di Gonzaga for his lover Isabella Boschetti, Palazzo Te in Mantua is a masterpiece of Mannerism (late Renaissance style) by architect and painter Giulio Romano. Built between 1524 and 1534, Palazzo Te was a magnificent suburban villa intended for otium (leisure time) and parties of the Gonzaga court, r...

THIS TOWER WAS CONSTRUCTED IN 1281 by the Acerbi family for private purposes then sold to the Bonacolsi family.  In 1328, the Bonacolsi family were defeated by the Gonzaga family who took control of the city. The tower was left to slowly decay. In 1576, Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga decided to use the tower as an open-air jail. He constructed an iron cage...

THIS CHURCH IS THE SEAT of the Mantua bishop and was originally constructed during the Early, Christian era, but it was burnt in 894. The only artifact that remains from that period is the bell tower basement. There is some belief that the basement was originally a Roman tower constructed on an Etruscan foundation. A Roman statue head is present ab...

ON THE SURFACE OF LAGO Superiore (Lake Superior), one of the three lakes surrounding the city of Mantua, lies the largest expanse of lotus flowers outside of Asia. Known as Isola dei Fiori di Loto, or Lotus Island, it is a floating island split by small waterway that allows boats to cross. The lotus, Nelumbium nucifera, rise up from the water with...