While vibrant Vietri is a fun entry point into the colorful world of Italian ceramics, its knick-knack universe does not always present itself in bella figura – Italian stylishness. To meet the royalty of Italian ceramics we need to move closer to the renaissance...
Alaska, Spitsbergen, or Tierra der Fuego come to mind when thinking of glaciers, especially the fancy ‘calving’ ones that end in an ocean or lake with big pieces of ice breaking off and spectacularly splashing into the water. There is a place,...
Few landscapes embody the ‘Italian dream’ of pastel colored villages nestled between lush hills and turquoise waters more than the pearls of the Amalfi coast between Positano and Salerno. Yet, as picture book perfect as fabled Positano, Amalfi or Ravello may look and...
The patios of Andalusia are rectangular courtyards which are fully enclosed by a colonnaded portico (porch), i.e. a roofed set of columns which allow people to walk around their open courtyards shielded from sun and rain. Their overall design closely resembles so-called...
In an earlier story I had been praising the area around the Swiss-Italian Great Saint Bernard Pass as an easily accessible alpine wonderland – between June and October that is, when the pass road is open bringing you conveniently up to some...
The road between Córdoba and Sevilla is dominated by the vast Andalusian sky, lined only by barren hills, give or take a few goats and sheep, and occasionally interrupted by seemingly infinite rows of gnarled olive trees and golden expanses of wheat....
Palestrina has definitely seen better times. Today it is – on the surface – a rather nondescript (if not rough) Italian country town of some 20000 inhabitants in the foothills of the Appenin mountain range about 35 km East of Rome. Back...
Living in Europe has been a steep learning roller coaster. Although my amazing ancient India is blessed with a multitude of cultures and religions with their very own varied foods, food habits and taboos, and my beautiful pristine New Zealand supplies probably...
Milan as Italy’s commercial powerhouse, home to its stock exchange and some of the world’s big names in fashion may not sound like the first address in matters of the soul, but scratch a little under the surface and you may discover...
Although the actual Grand Saint-Bernard Pass is a stop-over magnet for travelers between Italy and Switzerland to grab some fresh mountain air and have a peek around the amazing setting or get a cuddle from the gentle giant St. Bernard rescue dogs,...