I am pleased to add this interview to my Taking the Plunge series Here is Chloé Guest who opened a bistrot/microbakery in Florence in 2019 Where do you come from and when did you first have a connection with Italy in your life? I was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. My aunt married an Italian-Australian farmer, who raised sugar cane and cattle. His mother, a
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Fall Festivals in Tuscany
Fantastic Fall Festivals in Tuscany Tuscany brims with abundance in Autumn, with the grape harvest in the early part of the season and the new olive oil pressed in the later part of the season. For the updated version of this post go to my Substack.
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Tuscany off the beaten path: The Svizzera Pesciatina
Google the Svizzera Pesciatina and not much will show up. These small stone villages are in the hills above Pescia, and I'd not heard of them until I started living in Lucca. My recent visit to them sure felt like Tuscany off the beaten path. Pescia, a simple tow east of Lucca, suffered quite a bit of damage in World War II, and it's not on the tourist track. Above Pescia,
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Memoirs about Italy (And the marketing phenomenon of the word Tuscan)
The word Tuscan has became so overly marketed in the US that a friend of mine said, "When I hear the word Tuscan, I think bull shit." Behind every "Tuscan cheese stick" in middle America, is the marketing phenomenon of Frances Mayes' books on Tuscany. After seven years of success with her first books, Drexel Heritage introduced a "Frances Mayes at Home in Tuscany"
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Where to eat in Lecce
My top three recommendations for restaurants in Lecce This article of mine was originally published by Fathom There's a lot of buzz about the region of Puglia right now. For good reason, from the food and the hotels to the people and the cities. Lecce, called The Florence of the South, is a town carved from limestone so soft, a butter knife could sculpt buildings into
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Three Restaurant Recommendations in Florence
Note: This post goes back to 2016. Its contents are still valid but for my latest restaurant recommendations, go to my Substack. I offer my curated and updated lists to subscribers there, along with lots of other info about travel to, and moving to, Italy. Del Fagioli Corso dei Tintori, 47rOpen Mon-Sun for lunch and dinner.Closed Saturdays and
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The Best Way to Get Your Wine in Italy
Join me for fun in a wine shop in Puglia and learn about the tradition of vino sfuso Vino Sfuso used to the be common way for Italians to get their wine. They would arrive at a nearby winery with their demijohns and fill them with "loose wine." This tradition is not so robust anymore in many regions where people now opt to to get their wine at the supermarket. Many mom-and-pop
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