Past Italia: Arezzo Cathedral

Arezzo Cathedral, Tuscany, Italy

The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Donatus in Arezzo, Tuscany, boasts a long history and some eye-catching architecture La Cattedrale dei Santi Pietro e Donato is the city cathedral of Arezzo, Tuscany. The façade is a 20th-century reconstruction, and the clock tower was added then too, but the rest of the church was built between the […]

Drink Italia: Tuscan reds

From ‘Super Tuscan’ to Brunello, there are plenty of fine Tuscan non-Chianti reds, and they’re not all super-expensive either. Here’s a selection of Tuscan reds your wallet will love… Traditionally in Tuscany, if you were making red wine, you used indigenous Italian grape varieties like Sangiovese and that was that. During the late 1960s and […]

Top ten Italian cities for apartments

Incase you can’t decide on your ideal Italian city to settle in – we have made a list of the top cities for you to make the choice a bit clearer.  1. Rome – population 2,850,000 Italy’s brash, loud, vibrant capital is a confident, thick-skinned place, secure in its achievements and completely unsurprised to receive […]

Homes in: City Apartments

Italy has a bounty of jewel-like cities – small-sized, liveable and packed with beautiful buildings. They make excellent places to buy a home, offering easy holidaymaking and superb rental returns, says Fleur Kinson. As if it weren’t enough to have heart-meltingly lovely countryside, celestial mountains and a glorious coastline, Italy also manages to squeeze in […]

Keep fit in Tuscany

Tuscan Fitness offers revitalizing yoga retreats and health holidays in the heart of the beautiful Tuscan countryside. Combining yoga, fitness training and hiking with delicious yet nutritious food, these are fitness vacations designed to both recharge and relax. Guests of Tuscan Fitness are hosted at the Fontebussi Tuscan Resort, a charming hotel on a tranquil […]

This is the smallest theatre in Italy

In the small town of Vetriano, in the province of Lucca, is this theatre, now part of the Guinness World Records. This historial theatre, is now recognised as the smallest world! The theatre is located between houses and the streets of this stunning Tuscan village and keeps features of the 19th century, with a very little stage which is still […]

Our home in Tuscany

Alex Josephy and David Hornbrook had always thought that Tuscany was out of their reach, until they were introduced to a newly restored property that made their dreams come true… Alex Josephy and David Hornbrook bought their three-storey house in the wine-producing town of Montalcino, Tuscany, in 2008. The house is half of an old […]

Mid-Week Meals: Arezzo Style Bean Soup

Try this hearty, delicious staple from Tuscany, where peasant cooking – or la cucina povera – prevails, and satisfying bean-based dishes like this form the backbone of the region’s famous cuisine Mid-Week Meals: Arezzo-Style Bean Soup Ingredients ¾ cup (5.5oz or 150g) black-eyed peas  2 ripe tomatoes  2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil  1 bay leaf  […]

Discover the Alabaster Caves of Volterra

Mario Matassa visits Volterra, a medieval hilltop town in Tuscany, where he discovers the alabaster caves and workshops for which the area is famous The chalky white alabaster from Volterra is considered the finest in Europe because of its characteristic compactness, transparency, veining, softness and smoothness. Although the etymology of the word remains disputed, the […]