A spectacularly beautiful city, Rome is, surprisingly, not as expensive as London or Paris. The centre is also fairly compact, which makes it a good walking city. The best and cheapest ways to see Rome are walking and catching public transport, although the extremely heavy traffic and crowded buses and metro are not pleasant. Taxis may not be the b...

A few miles from Porretta, nearby Grizzana Morandi, there’s a building whose architecture cannot fail to impress those who come across it. Between the green mountains of the Bologna’s Apennines you find a castle that combines the medieval and the Moorish styles…very original and atypical for the area! It’s the Rocchetta Mattei, built in the second...

The region’s king? Olive oil! More than 100 Italian cultivators are from Tuscany. Pretty much every single corner of the entire region produces extra virgin olive oil. So many producers but some – Chianti Classico, Lucca, Seggiano, Terre di Siena, Toscano – are also protected by a designation of origin and a geographical indication recognized by th...

Welcome to Castelmuzio, a small village along the road that from Trequanda leads to Pienza, in the Orcia Valley. Everything here seems suspended in time, in the moment when grace and kindness discovered the pleasure of Italy’s “buon vivere”. The town center is made up of narrow streets that converge into the main square, dominated by the Casa Torre...

The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) announces that applications opened today for its Ambassador Peter F. Secchia Voyage of Discovery program. Now in its 20th year, this all-expenses paid cultural and educational initiative sends Italian American college students to Italy annually, to strengthen their understanding of their heritage and...

Susan takes us to Naples, where she explores a special place related to Santa Chiara. The old looming Church of Santa Chiara in the heart of Naples is well worth a break in your day. Built between 1313 and 1340, this Provençal – Gothic structure is a religious complex that includes a Franciscan monastery, tombs, an archaeological museum and a very...

Bologna stakes a claim to being the oldest university city in Europe, perhaps the world, and a roll call of the alumni of its 1088-founded institution throws up names such as Erasmus of Rotterdam, Thomas Becket, several popes, Copernicus and, more recently, Guglielmo Marconi. But this is no fossilised museum town; Bologna’s scholarly tradition attr...

Its perfect white sand, turquoise waters, and eminently photographable surroundings, with an ancient stone tower on a tiny island just offshore, have made La Pelosa on Sardinia one of the most famous beaches in the world. But this week, in a bid to preserve the beach, authorities have announced a cap on visitor numbers and a ticketing system. The c...

As a kid, I knew nothing about Basilicata or that it was a Region of Italy. I only recognized the name as being the family dialect. The family often spoke of “Rionero,” their hometown, one small village of Basilicata, north of Potenza. They talked, also, of Monticchio, which I gather was an alpine park area with a natural lake. Not sure how they ev...

Savona is located in the region of Liguria in northern Italy. The city is an important seaport and at one point used to be the most important city in Italy for heavy industries. Savona gained its popularity first because of its resident, Christopher Columbus who often mentioned the town in his letters and journals while describing his travel ventur...