Can you fit the flavors of a place into a scoop of gelato? Why yes, and I have proof and a story to tell ..read more

Ostiense, once an industrial part of Rome, comes alive with art and pizza ..read more

Far from the madding crowds, three places to stay in Rome ..read more

I like port cities for the same reasons some people hate them. Immigrants from far-off places bring life to the streets and create a market for exotic foods that eventually merge with the local cuisine. I feel a warm embrace in the dim light of Genoa’s caruggi and am drawn to the pangs of adventure when, on a stroll I turn and realize I’ve found a Creuza, a narrow path to the sea. All this darkness in the busy alleyways and the creatures attempting to thrive in them is balanced by the opulence of the Rolli Palaces, Palazzi dei Rolli, a short walk away. If I’ve piqued your interest in this fine ..read more

A terrific place to stay in the Prati District of Rome, close to the Vatican, with plenty of fine places to eat all around ..read more

A new travel app has dropped. It’s all about the Lunigiana, a historical territory mostly in Tuscany ..read more

We were looking for simple, traditional food in Genova. We found it at Ostaia Debanchi ..read more

You’ve had polenta, right? Probably commercial and quite yellow. It’s ok. Last night, after some stormy weather, it seemed time for one of those meals with the kilo haul of polenta we purchased at the Pinarolo market in the Piemonte region, after Marla of Bella Baita made sure we found the right vendor. We snagged us a bag of stone ground corn from an antique variety that almost went extinct after the war, Pignoletto Rosso. Was it different in our polenta than the “normal” variety of ground corn? You betcha. I made some rabbit cooked in white wine with onions and carrots and a couple of fresh ..read more

Turin, or Torino, is a city of fantastic museums. Imagine, the Museo Egizio is the second largest Egyptian museum of antiquities after the one in Cairo! The first museum in Collegio dei Nobili was opened to the public in 1832 to display the antiquities in the Drovetti collection, purchased by King Carlo Felice. If you are interested in ancient cultures, you’ll want to visit the current and much larger museum at least once. The museum’s big remodel for the 2006 Olympics has the visitor descend into the underworld to the ticket office, then sped upon moving staircases to the top of the museum, w ..read more

Take one power station, degrease it and install all those ancient Roman statues you have sitting in warehouses dotting the Eternal city, using the deep gray of the turbines, diesel engines and the colossal steam boiler inside the plant as a background. The juxtaposition is genius. Two industries, a couple of millennia apart. A statue museum that doesn’t dwell on the ancient persons represented in marble. No, “The statue is of Marcus Bulamitus, the forsaken son of a union between Beatrice Uno and the minor god of earlobe lust, carved after his death in the year 74. Yes, it will be on the test ..read more