Traveling along Lake Como and up through the Dolomites is a breath-taking journey. With spectacular scenery and photo stops around every corner, this is a perfect trip to take by car. It gives you the flexibility to visit some of the smaller towns, drive through majestic mountain passes and make the most of your time in these beautiful regions. See...
READ MOREItalian architecture studio Carlana Mezzalira Pentimalli has designed a public library that acts like "a sensitive organism" that can continuously adapt itself to the needs of the site and the project in Bolzano, Italy. Named Brixen Public Library, the 3,013-square-metre library has angular surfaces and protruding large windows that grasp the view...
READ MOREYes, we love geographic U-turns. In this episode of Rare Wines we join two distant lands, not only geographically, but by way of small productions of great sweet wines, which are increasingly difficult to find. Let's start from Sicily, from the beauty of Ustica and its vineyards overlooking the sea, living in the middle of the sea. Zhabib Passito 2...
READ MORESauerbraten, bratwurst, spaetzle, kartoffelpuffer and sachlich all are great examples of fine Italian cooking. No, I have not gone mad. These and many more Germanic foods are the usual fare of the Italian population of northeastern Italy’s Alto Adige. Once part of Austria, the area was ceded to Italy as reparations after World War I, but, like the...
READ MOREThink apple strudel, dumplings and potatoes, ski slopes, forest foraging, mountain views, saunas and uber-chic design hotels. Believe it or not, this isn't Austria or even Germany. Say "hello" to Italy's Dolomites. Particularly South Tyrol and the surrounding area. The beautiful region is another Italy. One that has its own language, Laden, and whe...
READ MOREThe typical spiced pastries of the Christmas markets, in various shapes (stars, hearts, crescents) often decorated with greeting phrases, have a very ancient origin: it was in 1409, as a matter of fact, that the word "lebkuchen" appeared for the first time in documents of the pastry chef guild of Nuremberg, the city from which these eventually spre...
READ MOREFor us New Englanders the cold weather has arrived and we're awaiting the snow days to arrive. Some of us are excited about it and many aren't. Of course it's more common for folks to get into the mindset of drinking rosé wines when the weather is warmer. If you're lucky enough to have fantastic weather year round than you may always have rosé in m...
READ MOREAlthough lovely in summer, northeastern region Alto Adige’s wonders really shine (both literally and metaphorically) in winter. Home to the Dolomite Alps–which boast 1,315 kilometers of slopes–Alto Adige (also known as South Tyrol) is obviously a winter sports lover’s paradise, but there’s also much to be said about the scene off the slopes: as tem...
READ MOREWith its breathtaking scenery and picture-perfect resorts, skiing in the Dolomites can feel like an out of this world experience. The distinctive peaks of Italy’s northeastern corner may not be the Alps’ tallest, but they have a uniquely high-rise effect, shooting from valley to summit in a sheer curtain of rock, strikingly beautiful when dusted in...
READ MORERight in the heart of the Italian Alps, as the first snow starts falling after an unusually warm autumn, Trentino turns into a perfect winter wonderland. Surrounded by majestic Alpine peaks, kilometres of lush forest (over 30 per cent of the northern Italian region is covered in trees) and 297 lakes, Trentino looks like a scene from a Christmas car...
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