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Carefully tucked away in an envelope with my mother’s belongings is a photo of her as a young woman. She is leaning against a terrace. Behind her, the sun is setting over the azure waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea, its fiery glow illuminating Santa Maria dell’Isola, a fairytale-like church perched on a rocky promontory. Growing up, I would sit and star...

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As big as a Robin’s egg, mildly tart with a hint of sweetness, and just-perfect chewy only begins to describe an Ascolana olive. Biting into one is a much finer manner of introduction to this enticing little fruit…and I was lucky enough to experience this (over and over again) when recently in Ascoli Piceno.    Olives on the Italian peninsula are n...

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Tourism in Italy is booming, as the latest figures show another record year for the country with more than 420 million visitors in 2017. The 4.4 percent increase in tourist numbers since the last record was set in 2016 is well above the European average, according to new figures from Istat. Most of Italy's tourists (14.1 percent) come from Germany,...

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The Umberto I Gallery in Naples was built between 1887 and 1890, and now represents one of the most famous outcomes of the so-called Risanamento – the great urban planning operation that radically changed the city at the end of the 19th century, with new squares, streets and buildings replacing pre-existing ones. The new plan was officially motivat...

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The lakes of Northern Italy, nestled near the foothills of the Alps, are magical, especially, I think, on one’s first visit. It was mine — a birthday celebration that I chose to spend with a dozen strangers from the United States, Canada and Brazil. What brought us together was the promise of a walking tour filled with adventure, surrounded by beau...

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The Basilica of Santa Sabina was built by one Peter of Illyria during the reigns of Popes Celestine I (422-432) and Sixtus III (432-440), as testified by the magnificent golden mosaic inscription opposite the apse. This is the only surviving mosaic, as many others would have decorated the space between the arcades and the clerestory. Upon entering...

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The Minor Basilica of the Holy Cross in Lecce has a whole century of history to tell – a century during which Baroque art flourished and triumphed on the pediment of this beautiful church, essentially built in two separate phases, one in the late 1500s and one in the 1600s. Indeed the church of the Celestine congregation (established in 1248 by her...

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Italy is a dream destination for tourists from all over the world. History, culture, nature and hospitality are interwoven in a combination to be found in few other places. Diverse landscapes, artistic treasures and incomparable food make Italy a feast for the soul. From the sun-soaked Mediterranean island of Sicily, to the snow-covered peaks of th...

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There's more to Como than ritzy villas and celebrities. Head off the beaten path and you'll find a lake for all budgets and all seasons. Lake Como – Liberty Style villas and gardens, pastel-coloured villages and mountains that plunge down into the lake. Pliny the Younger, Bryon, Stendhal, Goethe, Mark Twain, Gianni Versace and George Clooney all lo...

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As Italy wrestles with how to manage the effects of mass tourism on places like Venice and Florence, a clifftop village in the south of the country has caused controversy by charging visitors to enter its historic centre. Tourists have to pay €5 (£4.40) to enter the cobbled heart of Polignano a Mare, a spectacularly sited village of whitewashed hou...

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