Top Picks: August Edit

Discover home décor, luxury Rome and Capri trips and exciting new album releases as well as a fascinating dive into Sicily’s past in our round-up this August…  Alessi is More This summer sees the launch of new ranges from the always innovative Alessi Design. If you’re looking to update your bathroom, a simple change of accessories can give […]

Recipes from Venice – Part 1

The legendary cuisine of La Serenisima deserves close attention, so join Mario Matassa as he unpicks the flavours and feeling behind Venetian cooking… Venice hardly needs an introduction. One of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, the Renaissance city is renowned among other things for its stunning architecture, its history, its art, its […]

48 Hours in Aosta

Sarah Lane travels to Italy’s northwestern corner to Aosta and discovers beautiful scenery and some surprising saints in an area of castles and culture much loved by popes and kings With spectacular alpine skylines, a chain of medieval castles and colourful ancient customs, the Valle d’Aosta region – Italy’s smallest – has a lot to […]

Your Holiday Top Tips – Milan

Marina Spironetti picks a selection of the best activities and events to get involved with during a stay in Milan Hangar Bicocca  This brilliant contemporary art exhibition space opened in 2004 following the conversion of a huge industrial plant. The space now houses permanent and temporary exhibitions that will wow in size and innovation. Take […]

The Reinvention of a Grand Palazzo

Patricia Cleveland-Peck investigates the restoration that has transformed Palazzo Papadopoli into the Aman Canal Grande Hotel in Venice… It really all comes down to the writer Andrea di Robilant: if he hadn’t written the book A Venetian Affair, which tells the story of a doomed love between a Venetian nobleman and an English girl in […]

Chicken with salmoriglio

Third in our new series of Sicilian recipes is this beautiful, flavour filled recipe…   Chicken with salmoriglio Pollo al salmoriglio  Serves 4-6 – Preparation 2 hours – Cooking 40 minutes Ingredients 1 1.8kg chicken (preferably organic), butterflied 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp fresh rosemary 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped For the salmoriglio: 1 garlic clove, crushed 2 bunches of […]

Grand Canal in Milan

grand canal in milan

A summer night’s dusk falls on the Grand Canal in Milan and the cafés that line the waterside prepare themselves for another evening’s brisk trade, but it wasn’t always so peaceful… Today, this is just a beautiful place to be, but these waterways were once the very arteries of Milan, carrying the city’s lifeblood around […]

La Vara di Messina – Past Italia

Every August the people of Messina draw a 40-foot statue through their streets, and they have been doing this for 600 years. The edifice represents the final resting place of the Virgin Mary… The still photograph doesn’t do it justice. Giuseppe Pitre, the revered Sicilian writer, who died 100 years ago this year, witnessed the […]

Matteo Renzi visits the Alessi Factory

Italian Prime Minister, visited the Alessi factory - Italy Travel and Life

The Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, visited the Alessi factory in Omegna just over a week ago and praised Italy’s prime design production. Adapted from Alessi While travelling through Piedmont to experience the region’s productivity first-hand, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi paid a visit to Alessi’s facilities at Crusinallo. He was welcomed into the Headquarters, near Lake Orta by […]

Sicily – Holiday on the Italian Island

Jane Keighley learns how best to enjoy the Italian island of Sicily in less than a week, from Palermo to the charming town of Trapani and beyond… In the words of a Sicilian proverb “He who goes to Palermo without seeing Monreale leaves a donkey and comes back an ass”. As I wandered around the […]