An idyll in Tuscany Tucked away in the stunning Tuscan countryside is a boutique hotel resort so lovely you may not want to leave. Hotel Le Fontanelle is a five-star property that offers a chance to retreat from the world just 20km from Siena. Against a backdrop of the rolling hills of Chianti country sits […]
Discovering Lunigiana Italy – Monti Guesthouse, North Tuscany
Monti Guesthouse, the perfect base for exploring Lunigiana, North Tuscany As lockdown lifts Brits are travelling back to better-known parts of Tuscany like Florence, Siena and the Chianti region. Lunigiana, the land of the moon, is a part of Northern Tuscany that remains below the radar, a secret Italians like to keep to themselves. But […]
Review: Dimora Palanca – smart new boutique hotel in Florence
Five-star relaxation in Dimora Palanca’s elegant surroundings will refresh and revive Florence hosts some of the world’s most important and most beautiful works of art – the Botticellis are brilliant, the Michaelangelos magnificent, the Giottos gorgeous. The Uffizi, the Accademia, the Bargello – these are must-visit galleries for must-see art. And the must-stay hotel […]
Lockdown in Pistoia, a hidden treasure in Tuscany.
Ciao from Pistoia. Guest post: from Michela Ricciarelli – a professional tour leader who, in addition to working for some of the leading food tours operators in Tuscany, can be hired to help you plan your own holiday or to lead gourmet, art or fashion tours of the area. An authentic medieval town located in […]
Day Trips from Florence
Exploring Tuscany – Town and Country Day Trips from Florence. Why would you want to take a day trip from Florence? There’s a wealth of things to do in Florence, the capital of Tuscany. It’s known as the ‘cradle of the Renaissance’ for good reason. The historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, surrounded […]
Conti di San Bonifacio hotel – Review
A luxury boutique Tuscan wine resort and hotel – Conti di San Bonifacio. Ever since reading Lampedusa’s The Leopard in my twenties I have wanted to be an Italian aristocrat of noble lineage. However, the Count of San Bonifacio got there first and his family line can be traced back for over 1000 years whereas […]
Hotel Antica Torre di Via Tornabuoni n.1 in Florence
A Room With A View – Florence. E.M. Forster’s A Room With A View opens with a very proper English young lady, Miss Lucy Honeychurch, and her priggish cousin and chaperone, Miss Charlotte Bartlett making a trip to Florence. On arrival at their pensione they discover that their room doesn’t have a view of the […]
Villa di Geggiano, Italian Restaurant Chiswick – Review
A little bit of Tuscany by way of West London: Having booked dinner for 6pm when the restaurant starts evening service, and, as someone who generally errs on the side of caution, I managed to arrive before Villa di Geggiano in Chiswick opened. Peering through the iron gates, I could see a Tuscan style vine […]
Truffled Mushroom Polenta – a Taste of Tuscany
Mushrooms, Truffles and Polenta – an Italian Autumn Recipe: It is a few years now since I visited Tuscany. November hardly seems like the most logical time of year to go sightseeing in Europe, but for any food lover, Tuscany is treasure trove that shouldn’t be missed and that is when we visited. We managed […]
Ribollita – Tuscan Soup for the Soul
Making Ribollita in Tuscany: I’m sure I heard someone saying that this wonderful dish was the Italian equivalent of Jewish Chicken Soup. Something that is so much a part of the culture and heritage of Tuscany that no one needs a recipe and everyone has their own way of making it. Well, on my recent […]