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Us Italians have truly taken this Italian proverb to heart, both during carnevale and anytime we throw a festa–chaos-filled days celebrated with cheese chases and food fights and a sport somehow more violent than rugby. Though it may seem like chucking oranges at your neighbor’s head is ruthlessness for the sake of ruthlessness, there actually is s...

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Siena is the first art resort to become sustainable according to the standards of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, a nonprofit organization that sets standards for sustainable development of the tourism industry globally. Created by the UN Environment Program and the World Tourism Organization, it promotes sustainability and social responsib...

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New Orleans and Siena are, in many ways, spiritual sister cities. The Palio and Carnival are both important civic rituals that bring their communities together in celebration. Just as the foundation of Mardi Gras is religious, celebrated on the day before Ash Wednesday, the same is true for the Palio, as each race is run on a feast day honoring the...

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Banks: we all use them but have we ever thought about when and how they were created? History tells us that the earliest forms of banking – or something close to it – were practiced by the Assyrians and the Babylonians in Mesopotamia, as far back as 2,000 years before the birth of Christ. It was quite normal for the wealthy to entrust their riches...

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The first time I visited the Jewish ghetto in Siena was by accident. I’d just stumbled my way out of the Palazzo Pubblico — the civic seat of the Sienese Republic, today a museum — and my focus was singularly on tracking down a plate of pici for lunch. But my tunnel vision was broken by marble plaques I spotted along the street, memorializing, in H...

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Panforte is a typical Christmas cake from Siena, whose origins go back in time. A parchment attests to the existence of Panforte since at least 1205, but, in a simpler version, it originated even earlier, around the year 1000. Originally, it was a honey-based focaccia and was called pan mielato (honey bread). Fruit was added later, but, during the...

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Want to avoid the hustle and bustle of tourists in Rome, Milan, Venice, and Florence? Or maybe you’ve already seen those cities, and are looking for something new? Well here are some of my favorite small towns for you to live out your Italian dream.  1. Bergamo If you’re looking for a dreamy getaway, check out Bergamo! Bergamo is located north-east...

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When restoration work began on Piazza Jacopo della Quercia near Siena Cathedral in the late 1980s, the number of Roman archaeological discoveries was so startling, people doubted the work would ever get finished. What if they covered the whole place with tarmac and left terracotta containers, first century jewelry or similarly precious objects fore...

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Pools bubbling with hot, therapeutic water with breath-taking scenery featuring sharp changes of altitude, terraces that merge into the greenery, fountains, colonnades and water features - thermal bath tourism is still important for San Casciano dei Bagni, a small Tuscan hamlet in the province of Siena. Archaeologists have been working here at the...

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Siena in Italy is a city of art and certainly a city of good food. It is also a city of horse racing and the most impressive medieval city in Europe. It is a unique city with many ”faces.” It is located on the Tuscan hills and still retains its glory. It seems as if time in Siena stopped in the 13th century. It was then that the city began to be en...

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