Every winter the streets of Turin come alight with sophisticated electric installations by renowned artists – Joe Gartman investigates… Photos by Patricia Gartman Thomas Edison started it all, of course. Not content with inventing the light bulb, he strung dozens of coloured lamps around his laboratory for the 1880 holiday season. In 1882, his business partner, […]
“Go and catch a falling star, get with child a mandrake root…”. This begins John Donne’s poem, and another writer created another literary work a century before, that dealt with a virtuous woman, and with the magical mandrake plant. So begins John Donne’s Song, a poem that was probably written early in the 17th century. The poem lists […]
Joe Gartman pays a visit to the home of the Brownings and reminds us of their path to love and fame… The courtship of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning may be the most thoroughly documented in history, because it was conducted almost entirely by letter. And Robert was certainly a very impetuous wooer; in his very […]
On the trail of Lionardo Buonarroti, and the family palace he renovated in Florence. Lionardo, I have received thy letter and with it the three shirts. I am very much surprised that ye should have sent them … they are so coarse that there is not a farm labourer here who would not be ashamed […]
In Ravenna, a Queen gives birth to a daughter whose actions precipitate the founding of Venice. By the early 5th century AD, the Roman Empire was in two parts, ruled by two different emperors in two different capital cities. The eastern half was administered from Constantinople, in Thrace. The western capital was in Ravenna, in […]
The Ponte Milvio in Rome has endured floods, wars, and the weight of years for 21 centuries. Nowadays it also bears the weight of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of padlocks attached to every possible structure An old stone bridge carries the Via Flaminia north across the Tiber, away from Rome. Some of the piers survive from […]
Click HERE to order the new issue of Italia! In the last few days of creating the October Issue, we were struck by the terrible news of the Italian earthquake. We do know that there is a difficult time ahead and our hearts go out to everyone affected, and all our dear friends and family in […]
Vibrant Verona, hidden Rome, classic pasta recipes and much more I’m pleased to announce that the latest issue of Italia! is on sale now, available to buy online and from stores across the UK! You can also download the digital edition for Apple devices or online /Android/ Windows 8 devices. In our September Issue 142, we visit Piedmont, where the property market is looking good, and Capri, to enjoy Nina Parker’s […]
Joe Gartman reveals the ghosts of the past in Ferrera, a city where long-gone rulers and clergymen left unfinished business… Ghosts don’t exist, I am inclined to believe, but the atmosphere of Ferrara is distinctly eerie. Maybe it’s the mist floating in from the Po Delta, to east of the city, where the great river […]
I’m pleased to announce that the latest issue of Italia! is on sale now, available to buy online and from stores across the UK! You can also download the digital edition for Apple devices or online /Android/ Windows 8 devices. In our October issue, 131, Fleur Kinson writes about Homes In Puglia and how the property market is hotting up in the region. Sara Scarpa introduces us to the little-known […]