Top Holiday Tips: Cremona

Marina Spironetti picks a selection of the best activities and events to get involved with during a stay in Cremona… NOUGAT FESTIVAL The annual Festa del Torrone is dedicated to Cremona’s other claim to fame, nougat, which is said to have been occasioned by the marriage of Bianca Maria Visconti to Francesco Sforza, back in […]

Italian Book Review: Collections, Recipes & Guides

This month we review hefty cookbooks, handy guidebooks and thought-provoking fiction. Read on for our highlights from the world of Italian books this month… La Cucina Italiana: The Encyclopedia of Italian Cooking Published by Rizzoli, £30 (hardback) La Cucina Italiana – the popular US magazine for Italian cooking – has now brought out this hefty, […]

Making the Perfect Espresso: Easy Does It

The Marketing Manager at De’Longhi UK explains the perfect way to make an espresso using an at-home espresso machine. MULTI-TASKING Q. My current coffee machine can’t heat milk at the same time as it makes an espresso, so there is often a wait before serving a latte. I’ve heard that you should serve an espresso […]

Relocating to Italy: Which Areas Are Best?

Marian Hale, of Homes Italia, explains which areas of Italy are good to relcoate to when the more expensive areas are out of your price range. A CLOSE CALL Q. I’m looking to move to Italy and really love Tuscany but would like somewhere more affordable. What other regions have similar landscapes but lower price […]

Filled Pasta Review

Simple and satisfying, there is a blissful array of filled pasta to be found on the market – we taste seven leading brands to find our favourites… Growing in popularity outside of Italy, filled pasta is, for many, the perfect simple supper. The flavours and variations are understandably diverse – from meaty ravioli through to […]

Traditional Italian Wedding: Alto Adige Region

Marina Spironetti has travelled to the Alpine town of Castelrotto to attend a traditional wedding with a difference… It’s a winter Sunday morning and I have a wedding to attend. It’s not going to be the usual ceremony, though. First of all, it’s a traditional one. The wedding couple, as well as all their families […]

Italian Fresco: Classical to Medieval

Fresco is one of the most fascinating and most diffused artistic techniques in central and southern Italy. The fresco technique was big in the classical period; the Minoans, Greeks and Romans decorated their grand homes with wall paintings in fresco… During the medieval period this technique, like bronze for artistic purposes, dropped out of use, […]

History of Italy: Pompeii

Pompeii is a truly spectacular place, frozen in time for two millennia. The story may be familiar, but now it is being retold in a landmark exhibition of archeological finds… There are very few places to visit that are as historically fascinating as the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. The demise of the city and […]

Top Holiday Tips: Rimini

Fleur Kinson picks a selection of the best activities and events to get involved with during a stay in Rimini… LA NOTTE ROSA Riotous and spectacular, this huge annual extravaganza is a must-see. For one mad summer night, absolutely everyone in Rimini stays up partying until dawn. The town is awash with pink. Streetl ights […]

Holiday in Italy: A Weekend in Rimini

From sun, sea and sand to clubs, parties and theme-parks to history, style and serenity, Rimini offers every pleasure. Fleur Kinson thinks it might be the happiest place in the world… Beach babylon. Nightclubbing mecca. Hedonist’s paradise. You wouldn’t expect to rock up to such a place on a humble bicycle, but that’s how I […]