Despite my previous sailing experience extending to little more than a gentle pedalo around the lake of a local park, I’ve long been a keen believer in the healing powers of being out on water. This concept is also the driving force behind Vincent Braakman and Vallery Melcher’s wellness sailing holidays in the Mediterranean. When I discovered their...
READ MOREA new luxury train, La Dolce Vita Orient Express, was unveiled at Ostiense station in Rome on Thursday before making its maiden journey to the vineyards of Tuscany. The five-star service is operated by luxury hospitality companies Arsenale and Orient Express with the support of Italy's Fondazione FS Italiane and FS Treni Turistici Italiani. The tra...
READ MOREIt’s early on a Tuesday morning in mid-March, and Isabella Calidonna is ready to run. She’s got a hydration pack wrapped around her back and a smile on her face while standing next to the Baroque Four Rivers Fountain in the heart of Rome, Italy. This centerpiece of the famed Navona Piazza, she tells me, is among more than 2,000 fountains in the cit...
READ MOREGeri Guinn knew she came from a large Italian family; that much was clear. Growing up in Chicago with her parents and two sisters, she lived near her aunts, uncles and paternal grandparents, Pietro and Crocifissa Congiu, who had immigrated to the United States from Italy in the early 1900s. Although her grandparents only spoke Italian, weekly spagh...
READ MOREThe twin cities of Gorizia in Italy and Nova Gorica in Slovenia have been jointly designated as the European Capital of Culture for 2025, in an unprecedented move that created the first cross-border capitale della cultura since the initiative’s establishment in 1985. This historic collaboration, operating under the theme GO! Borderless, is a signif...
READ MOREYou’ll probably have your first sight of it while driving along Puglia’s coastal motorway – a glorified dual carriageway, quaintly lined down its central reservation with nodding oleanders. Your eye will be drawn inland by the high, level-topped Murge plateau rising starkly from the pancake-flat littoral. And there on a little pinnacle, you’ll spy...
READ MOREA Lamborghini Temerario can go from 0-100 km — that’s 62 miles — in 2.7 seconds. A Ferrari SF90 Stradale gets there in around 2.5 seconds. A FIAT 500 from the 1960s, while not known for its speed, is the quintessential way to navigate Italy’s narrow medieval streets. (Admittedly, this last one is also my dream car.) It doesn’t take a car enthusiast...
READ MOREThe beautiful Vernazza is often hailed as one of the most picturesque villages of the Cinque Terre region. Home to a medieval castle, vineyards that splay across the hillside and a charming collection of vividly coloured houses adorn the jagged coastline that stretches out into the Ligurian Sea, here’s your ultimate guide to the best things to do i...
READ MOREOnce the beating heart of Italian streets, edicole, or newsstands, have long teetered on the verge of extinction—relics of a bygone era when gossip, information, and interaction were consumed on the streets. Now, against all odds, some are reawakening, returning in different, cooler guises, reinventing themselves as cultural lifelines and taste-def...
READ MOREI was entering a new decade of my life at 30 and decided to take inventory of my life. I was happily living in San Francisco with a wonderful group of friends. I had a rent-controlled apartment and had saved enough money for a down payment on a home. After a while, though, I felt like something was missing. I needed somewhere that would foster my c...
READ MORE