Liguria is my favorite region after Tuscany and it may have Italy's prettiest coastline. I usually go there to hike and swim but this time the draw is what my friends say are the best fireworks in Italy. My friends who come yearly to their ancestral home in Lucca's mountains, head to Rapallo every July to see the famous fireworks and I'm spontaneously going with them
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Paddle boarding in Tuscany
SUP in Tuscany at Lido di Camaiore If you love SUP, and the Italian sea, as I do, you'll be glad to know that it's now common to find SUP at Italy's beach towns. After five months of cold it suddenly turned warm enough on April 15 to switch to summer clothes and by April 21 I was paddle boarding in the sea, out of Lido di Camaiore (a beach town on the part of the northern
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A Glamorous Seaside Town and its Christmas Market
Forte dei Marmi is one of Italy's most glamorous seaside towns. It's located on the part of the Tuscan coast called Versilia and around about the 1980s it started becoming a summer destination for the rich and famous. In the town you'll find trendy boutiques, and expensive restaurants frequented by nouveau riche Russians. Locals, in understated elegance often are
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Tropea: Gorgeous Beaches and Much More
Tropea and beyond Before this recent trip to Calabria, I had traveled once to the region, back in the 1980s, but I'd gone only to Lido di Catanzaro where my boyfriend's family had a house, so I didn't see much. On this trip (early September) my cousins and I based ourselves in Tropea: Calabria's loveliest seaside town. I relished Calabria's wild beauty, the
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Calabria and the Bronzes of Riace
Calabria developed a certain reputation in the 1970s when the Calabrian mafia, the ‘Ndrangheta, carried out some high-profile kidnappings. In past decades, this may have influenced tourists not to consider travel in Calabria, but I found it beautiful and relaxed with super welcoming people. My recent vacation on the Calabrian coast with my Colombian cousins was
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What to do in Gallipoli
"Era considerato l'oro verde," (It was considered green gold,) Marco says as we leave the whitewashed light of the via, and take a tunnel-like stairway down to a cave under the street. I'm in Gallipoli, on the Ionian coast of Puglia, with Italian friends. This area was once part of Magna Grecia (greater Greece,) and Gallipoli's Greek name was Kallí Pólis (beautiful
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The Pathway of the Gods–Italy’s Most Stunning Hike
I arrive on the Amalfi Coast by bus from Salerno. It’s early October, and while high season has passed, the bus is over-packed with travelers; some are forced to stand in the aisle. Oh, but I’m lucky. I have a seat on the left side where I can view the dizzying drop straight from the bus window down hundreds of feet of sheer cliff to the sparkling sea. The bus driver,
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Dining at Don Alfonso on the Amalfi Coast
Guest Post by Pavia Rosati Don Alfonso: Foodie Heaven on the Amalfi Coast A few years ago, I flew to Italy to have dinner with a man who was trying to impress me. (It made sense at the time.) He was a handsome musician and sommelier from Tuscany, the sort of gourmet who thought nothing of driving five hours for the right glass of Franciacorta. He picked me up at the Rome
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