My mother in law remembers shopping for shoes at Ferragamo in Florence many moons ago and Salvatore Ferragamo would be there with his leather apron around his waist. The shop is still the same, located in the magnificent Palazzo Spini Feroni, built in the 13th century by Geri Spini, in the most elegant area of […]
Tuscany is a special region, as anyone who has ever visited there will tell you. There are more popular visitor destinations in Italy – Rome and Venice certainly attract more visitors per year – but Tuscany is the only region that has found fame, as most visitors to Rome won’t know it is in Lazio, […]
Hannah Fielding talks about the inspiration for her new romantic novel, The Echoes of Love, which is set in the splendour of Venice… What made you fall in love with Venice? Its history, grandeur and beauty. I love the red sunsets on the canal that turn the water to fire, and then Venice at […]
Escape for a swim in the the most beautiful Italian Lakes. The spectacular lakes of Northern Italy are some of the most beautiful in the world. This extract is taken from a fantastic book – Wild Swimming, which shares locations and directions for discovering these beautiful hidden locales while taking a drip in the water. […]
Pronunciation or Intonation? Benny Lewis, author of Fluent in 3 Months (published by Collins) gives us his tips on understanding the ‘network’ of intonation in a language, with the help of a friendly Italian polyglot. At first glance, it can seem that the differences between a native accent and a foreign accent are all […]
Penne with Mediterranean vegetables and grilled chicken. Penne con verdure e pollo ai ferri. Ingredients 300g penne pasta 1 sweet red pepper, diced 1 small aubergine, diced 1 courgette, diced olive oil 2 chicken breasts salt and black pepper freshly chopped parsley Method Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and add […]
Using Music to Learn Phrases Benny Lewis, author of Fluent in 3 Months (published by Collins) gives us a brief singing lesson to help remember key phrases in a new language. While learning words is certainly very important, I recommend you start with phrases or full sentences, which allow you to communicate real ideas from […]
What are the essential things to do on a visit to the historical city of Pisa? Here are some of our favourite destination suggestions Tower of Pisa Everybody has heard of the leaning tower, but did you know that this freestanding bell tower wasn’t intentionally designed to tilt? During its construction between the 12th and […]
When Rome’s famed Cinecittà cinema studio complex opened its doors for a Fellini exhibition in 2011, visitors could walk onto film sets including replicas of a stretch of 19th century Broadway used in Gangs of New York and the sprawling ancient Roman Forum built for the BBC television series Rome. Cinecittà was built in 1937 […]
Farfalla (n.f) Butterfly. Farfalla is a strange word because, although it does derive directly from Latin, the way that it has morphed into modern Italian is unusual. The Latin, ‘papilio’, has become ‘papillon’ in French, and the word retains its ‘p’ form in Old Florentine (the basis of modern Italian), in the Bolognese, Milanese and […]