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Less known than Amalfi and other towns of the Amalfi Coast, Furore, a bunch of houses scattered on a mountain overlooking the sea, delights visitors with its frescoed churches, itineraries through woods and waterfalls, and the newly inaugurated Flight of the Angel on the fjord. The fiord is surely one of Furore’s main attractions, a narrow inlet wh...

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When travel dreams take people to Europe, Italy is often their first stop. There's something seductively charming about this country, its people, and la dolce vita. I always feel at home in Italy, whether struggling onto a crowded bus in Rome, navigating the fun chaos of Naples, sipping a cocktail in a Venetian bar, or sitting on the banister of Fl...

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Since both my driving and language skills are severely challenged in Italy, I always hire Marcello, a driver/interpreter, when I’m researching a new novel. A few years ago, Marcello and I were speeding along the highway hugging the western bank of the Serchio River north of Lucca when we saw a mammoth stone footbridge at Borgo e Mazzano. Its beauti...

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It was the eve of a fervent celebration planned for the Feast Day of Saint Joseph in 1906 when an earthquake struck the island of Ustica some 72 kilometers north of Palermo, Sicily, in the Tyrrhenian Sea.  On that unsettling night of March 18, the entire population woke up, panicked and rushed out into the street.  The Usticesi managed to collect s...

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There’s Italian hospitality and then there’s Casa Maria Luigia. Just outside Modena—the historic town already famous for being home to Maserati, parmigiano reggiano, balsamic vinegar and lambrusco wine—also houses the former number one restaurant in the world, Massimo Bottura’s three-Michelin-starred Osteria Francescana. And now, there’s Casa Maria...

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With so much to see and do in Rome, from museums to galleries, ancient ruins and the beautiful chaos of the city to get lost in, it can sometimes seem overwhelming when it comes to finding the right place to sample the traditional local fare.  There are some things you just can’t miss when you’re visiting Rome and while you’re working through your...

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The island of San Pietro, off the south-western coast of Sardinia, opposite the coast of Sulcis, is the sixth largest island in Italy. In its 51 square kilometers, it comprises just one town, Carloforte, and many spectacular coves and inlets, where cliffs plunge into the sea. The island is of volcanic origin, with a hilly interior, but visitors com...

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A city of glorious but tattered beauty, known for its vibrancy and, yes, a frisson of menace, Naples is now humming with visitors. In this Mediterranean capital watched over by the still-kicking Vesuvius volcano, tourist numbers have more than doubled since 2010, crime has dropped (notably, the murder rate is down 44 percent in 2018 over the previo...

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Thanks to its thousands of kilometers of coastline, Italy offers an astounding array of beaches, ranging from rocky Riviera coves to sandy stretches of seaside. Here's a sampling of beaches both on the mainland and on satellite islands, ranging from lesser-known hideaways to jet-set pit stops that have one thing in common—dramatically beautiful set...

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One of the more intriguing and sometimes disconcerting features of a Mannerist garden is the sensation of being watched as you stroll through. Even when no one is nearby and silence settles, that tingling in the back of your brain will not go away and from the corner of your eye you think you catch a glimpse of… something. It’s not movement so much...

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