Naples has always lived in close company with its dead. Saints are addressed like old friends, miracles are discussed with the seriousness of daily news and the boundary between faith, superstition and family tradition is often wonderfully difficult to identify.…
There is a corner of central Italy where the border has officially disappeared but can still be felt in the mountains. It runs through forests, abandoned fields, medieval villages and lonely valleys between Abruzzo and Lazio. Today, hikers follow it…
There are places that seem to belong to two completely different worlds depending on the season. In summer, Lake Braies is famous for its emerald water, wooden rowing boats and crowded shoreline. In winter, the colours disappear beneath snow and…
# The Orange Garden in Rome: Where the Eternal City Becomes Quiet There are places in Rome that announce themselves with marble, columns, fountains and crowds. And then there are places that seem almost embarrassed by their own beauty. The…
Sanremo: the week when Italy talks to itself Sanremo Festival history is the story of how a song contest became a shared national ritual. There are television programs, there are music competitions, and then there is Sanremo. Trying to explain…
On the impossible mountain roads of Sicily, the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 became one of the great symbols of the Targa Florio. This is the story of Autodelta, Nino Vaccarella and the day Alfa Romeo defeated Porsche on home soil.
A tiny Piaggio Ape camper turns an Italian work vehicle into a slow-travel home, carrying postwar ingenuity, simple holidays and la dolce vita along Italy’s back roads.
There are periods in history that seem practical, sensible, even a little dull. And then there are periods like the 1920s, when Italy apparently looked at the modern world and decided that if life had to move forward, it might…
There was a sound once heard in almost every Italian neighborhood. Not a ringtone. Not a delivery notification. Not a message from an app. A voice. “È arrivato l’arrotino!” The knife sharpener has arrived. For anyone who grew up in…
There are photographs that need a long explanation before they become interesting. And then there are photographs in which a Pope is standing in a red Ferrari, surrounded by thousands of cheering Italians. Those tend to explain themselves rather quickly.…