Relax in style, here’s a quick break down of the very best… If you want a relaxing holiday, then what better than staying at a spa? Take your pick from four of the best spas in Italy. Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni E. Vitali 24, Bellagio (Como) www.villaserbelloni.it Adored by kings, queens, politicians and celebrities, the […]
James Miller travels the east coast of Sicily to discover two cities rich in ancient history and vibrant with modern life… The Roman statesman and scholar Cicero described Siracusa as “The greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all.” In ancient times Sicily was once part of Magna Graecia, or Greater Greece, and […]
Known as the Gateway to the Dolomites, the Luson Valley is a hiker’s paradise with a number of trails leading from here into the mountains that surround it… The Germans call it Lüsen, as do its inhabitants. Though we are well inside the modern Italian border here, some 40km northeast of Bolzano, roughly the same […]
Each year, in a remote village in the Peligna valley, a festival takes place that dates back 3,000 years. Nadia Attura attends a celebration in the valley of the snakes. Deep in the Peligna valley, where north Italy meets south, villagers are preparing to celebrate Europe’s oldest festival: a bizarre, 3,000-year-old tradition that mixes ancient […]
Any visit to Naples is enhanced by a trip to the islands. Robin Crews finds that it’s easy to hop over the water to Ischia… We all know that passion runs through the veins of Italians right throughout the peninsula, but in the Mezzogiorno there is something else coursing through the locals’ bodies. As you […]
With preserved architecture spanning all the ages from ancient times through the medieval and Renaissance periods, Verona is the perfect city for sightseeing. Lorenza Bacino reports… I don’t want it to end. My last morning in Verona is spent enjoying the view from a café in Piazza Bra’ overlooking the Arena and savouring the traditional spritz […]
Jane Keightly discovers the wonderful world of truffles at perhaps the most famous truffle fair in all of Italy: The Alba White Truffle Fair… One of Italy’s most interesting seasonal events is the truffle season in Piedmont, when food lovers from all over the world descend upon the town of Alba for the International White […]
WHAT TO SEE AND DO ➤ Palazzo Ducale & Galleria Nazionale delle Marche Entrance on Piazza Duca Federico +39 0722 32262 www.palazzoducaleurbino.it Hours: Mon, 8:30am-2:00pm; Tue-Sun, 8:30am-7:30pm ➤ Casa Natale di Raffaello< Via Raffaello, 57 +39 0722 320105 www.accademiaraffaello.it Hours: Sun, 10:00am-1:00pm, Mon-Sat, 9:00am-1:00pm and 3:00pm-7:00pm ➤ Oratorio San Giovanni< Via Barocci, 31 +39 0722 910259 >Hours: […]
The busy university town of Urbino is often called ‘the perfect Renaissance city’ – and indeed the birthplace of Raphael rivalled Florence and Siena in its day. Joe Gartman returns to find out if they have got any of their loaned out paintings back yet… Standing at the Punto Panoramico, near the walls of the forbidding […]
As much as anywhere in Italy, the food of Montalcino is intensely local and dear to its residents. Wanda Djebbar explains the culinary heritage of this Tuscan town with her Gourmet guide to Montalcino… Sitting proudly on its hilltop at 567 metres above sea level, looking out over the Val d’Orcia and the Via Francigena, […]