Italia! photos of the month: March 2018

This month, our favourite reader photos have captured some truly gorgeous scenes… which is your favourite? This month’s winner:  “This is Manarola at sundown. We had visited the town during the day in order to find the best spot to capture the magic of the sun going down. We settled for the cemetery on the […]

Italia Moments – Week 8

Sea views, vineyards and architecture but we’ll stop doing the talking a let the photos speak for themselves… One of our photos from our readers, Marianne Bruining, this is Castellabate, so beautiful  Sharon Reynolds captured this view from top of Anacapri Rae Carver took this photo as she head up the hill to the lighthouse in Portofino ‘This double […]

Why we love these five open air venues

Not only does Italy boast a fantastically distinguished and high-profile operatic heritage, the nation also has some stunning open air venues to match… Verona Arena, Verona, Veneto Built in 30AD, this incredible Roman amphitheatre is the third largest in existence and provides an out-of-this-world setting for the city’s three-month opera season, from June to August. Blessed […]

Italia Moments – Week 6

This week, Venice was a popular focus, the city of love, the kind of place where you want to get lost (as we’re sure you will).  Julia Carpenter sent us this stunning picture of Venice at dusk – ‘A view I could never tire of’. We totally agree! Get your furry friends are at the ready! It’s #NationalDogDay […]

Recipes from Venice – Part 2

The most popular soup in Venice is pasta and fagioli (pasta and beans), a hearty combination that warms body and soul during the long rainy season. Risi e bisi (rice and peas) is a simple and yet delicious duo enjoyed especially in the early spring. The local pasta of choice is bigoli, long wholewheat strands […]

Grand Canal in Milan

grand canal in milan

A summer night’s dusk falls on the Grand Canal in Milan and the cafés that line the waterside prepare themselves for another evening’s brisk trade, but it wasn’t always so peaceful… Today, this is just a beautiful place to be, but these waterways were once the very arteries of Milan, carrying the city’s lifeblood around […]

La Vara di Messina – Past Italia

Every August the people of Messina draw a 40-foot statue through their streets, and they have been doing this for 600 years. The edifice represents the final resting place of the Virgin Mary… The still photograph doesn’t do it justice. Giuseppe Pitre, the revered Sicilian writer, who died 100 years ago this year, witnessed the […]

Italia Moments – Week 5

Holiday travels seem to be the theme this week, from Rome to Sicily and day to night. Send your photos ready for Italia! Moments Week 6! A couple just returned from ‘an amazing 2-week visit with our dear friends’ View from the apartment balcony in Verona, March 2016 taken by Bettina Weber The beautiful Sunset in Naples captured by Kim […]

Italia! Moments – Week 4

From herb gardens to stunning views at Anacapri, we feel like we’ve been on an all round trip of Italy! Send your photos ready for Italia! Moments Week 5. Amelia Hovath sent us some stunning images of her trips in Italy, we selected our favourite which is her view over the sea at Anacapri. This […]

Gondola – Italia Icons

Think of transport in Venice and you think of the gondola, but this is a relationship that has been developed in large part by the city’s tourism industry. As a working boat, there are better options. Though it is now recognized the world over as the typical boat of Venice, the gondola is in fact […]