Jane Keightley visits the famous Umbrian hill town to see the sights, enjoy the food and find out more about the saint whose values are woven into the life of Italians nationwide… Photos by Jane Keightley. As the last tourist buses roll out of town, the whole atmosphere of Assisi changes. With five million visitors […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
Dawn breaks over Tuscan countryside… mist-shrouded valleys gently yield views of their ripening vineyards and fertile terraces, and nary a dog dares to bark… Photo by Getty Images Tuscany has long held an appeal for dreamers seeking a happier life, particularly those from Great Britain. The poet Shelley was an early adopter, as was the […]
The ancient and modern town of Tivoli lies at the falls of the Arienne river as it descends from the Sabine Hills on its way to meet the Tiber in Rome… Photo by Getty Images Just 30km from the capital, Tivoli has always been a place of retreat for the city dwellers. Since the 18th […]
People gather outside the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore on Rome’s Esquiline Hill to witness a soap foam re-creation of the Miracle of Summer Snow… Photo by Getty Images Legend has it… that on the night of 4th August, a long, long time ago, it snowed in Rome. Not everywhere, and not a lot, but […]
The Maremma’s Cascate del Mulino (Cascades of the Mill) are fed by hot spring waters that flow underground from the site of the Terme di Saturnia Spa… Photo by Getty Images Just upstream from here, the Terme di Saturnia is as luxurious a spa resort as you could hope for, but the 37°C waters that […]
In a small town in Puglia, at the edge of the Piazza San Francesco, stands the Calvary of Manduria in Puglia, the work of a 19th-century artist… Photo by Getty Images Calvary (also known as Golgotha) was the hill where Jesus Christ was crucified, and a calvary (calvario in Italian) is an artistic representation of […]
A troupe of marionettes patiently await their curtain call in the warehouse of Carlo Colla & Sons before a show in Milan last year… Photo by Leonello Bertolucci/Getty Images In May this year, the Carlo Colla & Figli marionette company hosted a special show, La Poesia della Meccanica (The Poetry of Mechanics), in Milan to […]