In Cirò Marina, Calabria, great swathes of countryside play host to rows of bright tomatoes, which are laid out in their hundreds beneath the hot southern Italian sun – all ready to undergo the sun-drying process Calabrian cuisine is well known across Italy for its distinctly flavourful, spicy character, which is much influenced by the […]
Mario Matassa welcomed an exciting new development in Castell’Arquato, Emilia Romagna a couple of years ago – a milk machine that certainly seems to have moo-ved many of the locals to a fever pitch of excitement A few years ago the credit crunch – or crisi in Italian–was hitting hard. Italians hardly need an excuse […]
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 […]
Step aside Rick Stein – the ambitious fishermen of Goro are about to show you how shellfish really should be cooked. Mario Matassa joins them Take several buckets of fresh garlic, parsley and other herbs and spices; 620 kilos of assorted shellfish; a few sturdy shovels and a rake… oh, and don’t forget the seven-foot […]
The Pollino National Park represents a dramatically varied region of wonder and wilderness, offering some of the most breathtaking scenery in Italy… The vertigo-inducing Raganello Gorge shown in this photograph cuts through the Pollino National Park and counts as one of the most dramatic features of this impressive area. The national park of Pollino is […]
In the hidden hilltop town of Ripatransone, Le Marche, Nina Richards discovers the narrowest alley in Italy among the medieval architecture In exploring the hills around Ascoli Piceno, on Picenus Hill, in southern Le Marche, you will chance upon the small town of Ripatransone. With its medieval architecture still intact, including some charming towers, churches […]
Italia! investigates a very different view of this renowned Italian lakeside town, with a visit to a dizzying sculpture in Piazza Camerlata, in Como What do you envisage when you think of the Italian Lakes? It probably isn’t a design movement called Italian Rationalism, but the town of Como, on the lake of the same […]
Artists’ inspiration and magnificent feat of engineering, but the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute on Venice’s Grand Canal was originally built to stave off the plague The year is 1629 and a great plague has hit Venice, turning it into a watery tomb. Prayers and processions to Venetian churches fail to stem the tide […]
Once the capital of the Western Roman Empire, Italia! discovers one of the many reasons to visit Emilia-Romagna’s artistically rich city Ravenna, which boasts eight UNESCO world heritage sites. Of the many attractions that draw visitors to Emilia-Romagna’s Ravenna, the over-whelming Byzantine heritage is among the most alluring. Ravenna was the capital of the Western […]
Beneath Sardinia’s beautiful surface exists a world ripe for discovery. Underwater caves and strange creatures await those who dare to dive. The beauty of Sardinia’s landscape is much documented, but there’s a whole other side to this paradise in the Mediterranean. Deep underwater lurks a very different sort of holidaymaker to the typical beach-dwelling tourist. […]