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There is a reflexive habit among wine drinkers of reaching for Champagne as the reference point for any serious sparkling wine. For Franciacorta which is the sparkling DOCG produced on the southern shores of Lake Iseo in Lombardy, the comparison is understandable and...

When most people think of Tuscan wine, they think of Chianti. That is understandable. Chianti Classico is one of Italy's most exported and internationally recognised appellations, and the rolling hills between Florence and Siena have been photographed so many times...

Florence can be overwhelming. The queues at the Uffizi, the crowds in Piazza del Duomo, and the sheer concentration of extraordinary sights all competing for your attention can make the city feel intense at times. Even though it is one of the greatest cities in Italy,...

Most people who visit Verona spend their time in the city itself. The famous Arena, the Piazza Bra, Juliet's House, the beautiful medieval streets. All of that is worth your time. However, did you know just 15 minutes northwest of the city, in the hills that rise...

There is a particular quality of afternoon that only exists in the Italian countryside. The light is different.  It is lower, warmer, more golden than it has any right to be at 4pm. The pace is different. The noise of the city has gone. You are sitting at a table...

Planning a trip to Italy is, in theory, one of the more pleasurable activities available to a person. In practice, it quickly becomes a complex logistical exercise that involves train schedules, attraction booking windows, accommodation choices, and the nagging fear...

Most people give Milan a day when they arrive, and leave thinking they might have missed something. They usually have. Not because the city is big and the important areas are hard to cover; but because without a plan, it's easy to spend three hours running around and...

Most people arrive in Genoa by cruise ship, take a quick look at the port, and wonder what to do next. Here's the honest answer: a lot more than you think. Genoa doesn't sell itself the way Rome or Florence does. It doesn't need to. This is a city that has been...

This is one of the most common questions that comes up when planning a first trip to Italy, and it's worth answering honestly... which means not pretending that one option is always better than the other. Both guided tours and self guided travel have genuine...

What if you could walk through a city that has been continuously inhabited for over 9,000 years? Not ruins;  an actual, living city, where people were still sleeping in cave dwellings as recently as the 1950s? That's Matera. And it's unlike anywhere else on earth. The...