…took me from Tiburtina station (after landing at Fiumicino – followed by a quick detour to Piramide where I met with friends and collaborators about the upcoming Roma Mangia Roma book from Nero still in the editing process) – through the white mountains to this city on the Adriatic under a fluffy white blanket after weeks ..
Category : Italy
…which seems to be a very tranquil town during the day, surprised me last night when the very designy chic bars and lounges spilled out on the the ancient whitewashed pedestrian streets, and the whole town (crying babies, rambunctious kids, cool teens, strolling couples, shuffling elderly) turned out to fill the Piazza San Oronzo and ..
…was the order of the day, as I finally departed Lecce, continuing my Puglian journeys gradually making my way west then north on the slow side roads through countryside and small towns with no final destination in mind, stopping off in the ceramics center of Grottaglie, the pretty hilltop town of Locorotondo, the trulli village ..
…is something I have had an intense architectural crush on since first reading about them last year (a fortified farmhouse unique to Puglia, often with a series of connecting vaulted spaces made of local stone on the ground level for animals and farm workers around a central protected courtyard overseen by more comfortable castle-like quarters ..
…with a dreamy baroque historic center where old men bike around aimlessly and gather on benches with friends you imagine they grew up with on that same block, was once a rival to Lecce, it’s larger neighbor to the north, is the general area of Puglia (or Salento, as locals would hastily/testily correct you, referring ..
…the beautiful beach cove, I had read about and dreamt about while researching Puglia last winter, which is isolated in a nature preserve just north of Galipoli and west of Nardo’ – is where I just happened upon a small B&B sign (Villa Chiara) that was the happy serendipitous answer to the 3pm question ‘where ..
…the Italian town I have been curious about and yet to visit was conveniently on my way from Aix-en-Provence to Brindisi, so after a long windy scenic train ride along the French Riviera with front row seats to the late August bikini-clad bathing French masses, I arrived in this pretty but rough around the edges port ..
…and financial woes are making international news, with austerity plans in the works (here is an Guardian editorial by my political hero from Puglia, Nichi Vendola), and this afternoon as I’m biking by Palazzo di Montecitorio – the Italian Chamber of Deputies – I pay special attention to the usual modest assemblage of protests and ..
…along the stunning coastline of the Italian Riviera in Levanto just north of Cinque Terre is made possible thanks to the re-routing of the train line inland, which made it’s previous path through a series of cool grotto-like cavernous tunnels available for dedicated paths for people moving on foot or t..
…or ‘five lands’ are the colorful Ligurian villages hugging the rugged coastline of the Italian Riviera which have maintained their precious antiquated state, partially due to their inaccessibility by cars, prompting a 1997 UNESCO World Heritage Site designation, which resulted in recent ramped up tourist activity – evidenced by our Italian friend and host who ..
…is the Ligurian beach town where my friend, and before that her her mother, grew up spending summers in a cute yellow house on the main street of town which her grandparents bought decades ago, and here is what we like about this place: almost all of the buildings have elaborate hand-painted trompe-l’oeil architectural details ..
…is the most idyllic and purely conceived of hilltop Lazian towns which we have made a Sunday pilgrimage to, around Monti Cimini and dominated by the great pentagonal Renaissance genius of Villa Farnese (where upon entry into its hollow cylindrical central courtyard we were drawn by sounds of Mozart into the first great painted room ..
…is the hilltop Asciano-adjacent Tuscan Benedictine monastery dating from 1313 we are visiting today, which features a very cool 1553 fish pond that would feed the monks during periods when Benedictine rule forbade consumptio..
…love it and actually lived in a farmhouse there from 1993-94 – but the local authorities exert such tight control on new development and changes to existing structures having an effect on the landscape – which only becomes truly apparent when you cross into Lazio to the south where it seems anything goes in some ..
…I see side by side here in this wild majestic city which has been suffering from waste management issues ..
…is the tiny hill town an hour north of Rome near Poggio Mirteto where I am lucky enough to be at a friend’s place for the weekend – from which you can see Saint Peter’s as a distant tiny dot on the horizon – taking long walks through the farm land where I am luxuriating ..
…are the unique pleasures of this city which you can traverse from one side to the other within the sheltering vaults and alongside the rhythm of the columns which are constantly changing style from one arcade to the next – and how super that the most superlative architectural space of city is comprised of almost ..
…were looking at us as we were attempting to visit the Niki de Saint Phalle sculpture park of Il Giardino dei Tarochi which was closed, but the sheep were worth the trip…
…like all great medieval Italian hilltowns (we are in the Maremma of Southwest Tuscany), provides that brilliant vivid contrast between the feeling of dense urbanism on the inside, and the seemingly infinite expanse of rolling rural cultivated countryside on outside, just on the other side of the fortified walls – reminding me of my romantic ..
…just South of the Lago di Burano wildlife preserve, is where we have come this groggy afternoon to honor this first day of 2011, recover from a late night, soak up the few hours of winter sun, take naps on driftwood logs, gather shells, play games in the sand, go running, and for one brave ..
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