Glimpses of Christmas Past: Photos from Verona 2019

The Christmas star flies from the arena to piazza bra in verona

Joe and Patricia Gartman have spent the Christmas seasons from 2017 to 2019 in Italy. Here are photos from their time in Verona in 2019 A prosperous modern city of medieval squares, Verona has several historical claims to fame. It’s the town where Romeo and Juliet lived, loved, and, alas (spoiler alert) died. It’s where […]

Glimpses of Christmas Past: Photos from Sorrento 2018

Workers club presepe in sorrento

Joe and Patricia Gartman have spent the Christmas seasons from 2017 to 2019 in Italy. Here are photos from their time in Sorrento in 2018. Perched on top of sheer cliffs, high above the Bay of Naples, Sorrento provides an abundance of picturesque charm, history, views, cafés, summer sunshine and lemon-scented air. It’s also the […]

Glimpses of Christmas Past: Photos from Venice 2019

Christmas tree in front of Doges Palace, Venice

Joe and Patricia Gartman have spent the Christmas seasons from 2017 to 2019 in Italy. Here are photos from their time in Venice in 2019. Those who are tasked with decorating Venice for Christmas have a challenging job: it’s difficult to park a boom lift in the middle of a street to hang lights if […]

Glimpses of Christmas Past: Photos from Turin 2017

Luci d’Artista lights on Via Po

Joe and Patricia Gartman have spent the Christmas seasons from 2017 to 2019 in Italy. Here are photos from their time in Turin in 2017. We arrived in Turin early in December. There was a huge advent calendar set up in Piazza Castello. Every night the fire brigade arrived with a truck-mounted cherry picker to […]

Glimpses of Christmas Past: Photos from Rome 2017

7 Acts of mercy presepe

Joe and Patricia Gartman have spent the Christmas seasons from 2017 to 2019 in Italy. Here are photos from their time in Rome in 2017. When the City of Rome’s official Christmas tree – a72-foot Norway spruce from Trentino – was erected in Piazza Venezia on the 8th of November, it was shockingly bare of […]

Italia! Photos of the month: January 2020

Venice

Start the new year right with our gallery of photos from January’s reader photo competition. Which one do you like best? This month’s winner:  “I took this on a foggy morning in February. It’s just by the Rialto market in Venice, just as the city was waking up and before the tourist hordes arrived.” by […]

Viewpoint: Sulmona confetti

Sulmona

Sulmona, in the province of L’Aquila, Abruzzo, is chiefly famous for being the world capital of confetti, the dragée almonds given to wedding guests… Harry and Meghan had them at their wedding. So did William and Kate. And they got the idea from Charles and Diana, who ordered confetti from Sulmona for their wedding in […]

Viewpoint: Poggio Alemanno

Poggio Allemanno

A midwinter’s dawn breaks at Poggio Alemanno in Oltrepò Pavese, illuminating the remains of the previous night’s light snowfall. Photo by Getty Images We tend to associate winter snow with northern Europe, but in fact snowfall in Italy, in the north at least, is a lot more common than we might imagine. In the mountains, […]

Italia! Photos of the month: December 2019

reader photos December 2019

Here are our favourite photos of Italy from Italia! readers this month. Read on to find out our photo winner and runners-up for December… This month’s winner:  “Beautiful crisp winter morning on Lago Trasimeno with the snow-capped hills in the distance seen through a memorial sculpture, best view in all Umbria!” by Stuart Moore, Rochdale […]

Viewpoint: Santuario Madonna della Corona

Madonna Della Corona

This is obviously quite an unusual place to build a church, but the story of why the Santuario Madonna della Corona is here is even more unusual… Photo by Getty Images The people of Monte Baldo were baffled by a light emanating from a point in the cliff face where there was no house. They […]