Monteferrante, a tiny mountain town in the province of Chieti and region of Abruzzo, has 128 residents as of 2017. Around since the Middle Ages, in the early 1900s, it was a farming community. However, many residents migrated to the United States and the Americas during the mid-1900s. This included my mom, uncle, Nonna and Tatone. Many residents se...

A paradise for skiers, the Italian Alps of South Tyrol offer a more placid pastime that’s surging anew. A host of spas are sprouting up in isolated tracts among the highlands, and though there’s hiking, biking and access to some of the Alps’ easier ski slopes, sports are a mere afterthought here. The spas draw skiers and nonskiers alike to spend da...

As a Los Angeles native who has rubbed elbows with my fair share of celebrities, I found myself imagining Lake Como, Italy, as any cliché-skeptical American might: an overrated luxury resort town that had only gained international attention when George Clooney bought a villa there in 2002. But this cynic stands corrected. The truth is, Lake Como is...

What have the Hapsburgs ever done for us? OK, so the answer to that question is perhaps not quite as humourously self-evident as the list of Roman achievements summarily dismissed by John Cleese's disgruntled leader of the "People's Front of Judea" in Monty Python's Life of Brian ("All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education,...

Among the many things I love about Italy is how the Renaissance can be spliced into your travels. Imagine: In Florence you can sleep in a converted 16th-century monastery that’s just a block from Michelangelo’s David, around the corner from Brunelleschi’s famous cathedral dome, and down the street from the tombs of the great Medici art patrons — an...

You might say that we’re in the middle of the journey of our life: My wife and I reached our 25th wedding anniversary last year. To celebrate, we went to Italy. We put Florence on the itinerary because we wanted to see Brunelleschi’s dome, Leonardo’s paintings, and Michelangelo’s statue of David. But we also had a special reason for traveling to Fl...

After all the fabulous exhibits one can see in the heart of Florence, it is possible that a little fresh air in the countryside might just be the ticket to take a breather and relax a bit? After all, how many beautiful frescoes and wonderful palaces unlike any to be seen anywhere else can you take in on your trip? So then, what’s next?  Well, there...

Courmayeur is rightly famous for its magnificent slopes, but there's more to this mountain resort than skiing. Travel writer Rachael Martin explores all this town at the foot of Italy's highest peak has to offer. Courmayeur is one of the best-known ski resorts in Valle d’Aosta, the Italian north-western region that borders Switzerland and France. I...

You’re young, smart and hold a prestigious degree: the world is at your feet! Or not, because employment opportunities are meagre and you’re still struggling with reaching the end of the month, when you aren’t just living off your parents, at home. Or you may be a trendy professional, well paid and successful, but dangerously close to burning out....

Italy offers a diverse array of fabulous destinations that aren’t only Venice, Rome and Florence. This is a country that should be discovered over a lifetime, preferably returning year after year to truly get to know “il bel paese” in the way it deserves. For those who plan on arriving by air, here is what you need to know before booking a flight t...