He raced for three separate teams during his 15-year Formula One career. But in the end, German Michael Schumacher will be forever tied to the Ferrari Scuderia, and to Italy. Why? He won five of his seven World Championships with the Prancing Horse and dominated the world of Formula
Venice—La Serenissima—is extra-ordinary and unique, one of the world’s great sites. Impossibly romantic, it has fascinated art-ists, writers and travellers for centuries. In our traffic-clogged and fast-moving age, its ‘other world-ness’ is still an endless source of
Galleria Continua, located in the heart of Tuscany’s most popular hilltop town, San Gimignano, is a dynamic art gallery that continually offers its visitors some of the most sought-after contemporary art in all of Italy, and indeed the world. At present, the gallery is host to several
Few people would argue that Villa Gamberaia is the jewel in Settignano’s crown, though it didn’t always shine as brilliantly as it has in the last hundred years or so. ...
When Enrico Caruso sang Andrea Chenier from the windows of Bellosguardo, he looked out on the blue Tuscan sky and the green hills of Lastra a Signa. The famous tenor bought the villa in 1906 because of the peacefulness of the area and because the dry air would be good
It just doesn’t sound like a great idea: promoting wines made with the native negroamaro grape (also spelled neroamaro and neramaro, which means ‘black and bitter’), and with the primitivo grape, which has nothing to do with being primitive (it’s related instead to the
‘Eureka!’ The treasure miners accidentally found in Monsummano wasn’t gold. The natural ‘gem’ discovered more than a hundred years ago on Giusti family property was much bigger and more unique. ...
Summer in Siena means the Palio a famed historic horse race run each year on July 2 and Aug. 16. The Palio tradition dates back to the 11th cen-tury, when the race was initiated to honor the Madonna dellAssunta, patroness and advocate of Siena, for her protection of
Siena has a more insular and less forthcoming atmosphere than Florence – but it’s one you definitely should get to know. If you have little time to spend in the city, use it wisely by wandering the steep and twisting streets, viewing the numerous palazzi, the Duomo, the
The current popularity of ‘enogastronomy’- wine and food related tourism – may seem new but Italian wines have been drawing visitors since the Greeks overran the Etruscans. However, unlike food, wine in Italy in the last 35 years has changed dramatically. Around that time, Italians began to realize
‘Mediterranean weaving—fabric as a dictionary of economic, cultural and social relations.’ This rather ponderous title introduces a fascinating exhibition at the Museo del Tessuto in Prato comparing the different textile ...
Most people are familiar with the masked revellers at the Carnevale in Venice, but another truly fantastic celebration ofCarneVa (literally meaning the “meat goes”) is held each year in the Tuscan coastal city of Viareggio. Here the stars of the show are the spectacular papier-mâch&