Country Archive
Sorrento in style
Date: 02/12/2007The jaw-dropping beauty of the Amalfi coastline and Sorrento have been attracting visitors ever since Ulysses made his legendary stopover.
Read OnLe Marche’s magic
Date: 01/29/2007Many Italians would struggle to describe the exact whereabouts of the little-known region of Le Marche, but in fact the capital city of Ancona sits right on the coast in the shadow of Monte Conero, about 200 miles from both Rome and Florence.
Read OnA ready made network of friends—in Italy
Date: 01/29/2007As in almost every European country, Italy boasts a serious list of expat groups, clubs, and associations.
Read OnTastes of Tuscany Part II
Date: 01/01/2007Tuscany is a great excuse for feasting. Lunch today is at Castello di Oliveto, a fortified villa, an agriturismo, game preserve, and elegant venue for receptions and wine tasting.
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Pompeii, Herculanium, and Stabiae-the tale of three ancient cities frozen in time
Date: 12/31/2006
Temperatures rose in thermal springs, tremors shook the earth, and on Aug. 24, 79 A.D., Mount Vesuvius spewed blistering ash and pumice over Pompeii. But today I enter Pompeii without trepidation, through the Porta Marina, one of the six gates of the walled city. Stones of lava, inlaid with chips of white marble, pave the road leading into the Via dell'Abbondanza. More than 2,000 years ago, carts carried provisions (including fish from the Gulf and salt from the bustling port) along here at night, aided by the light reflected from the marble.
Read OnThe Secret Room
Date: 12/28/2006The guy on the ticket desk in Naples' Archaeological Museum leered at me when I asked to see il gabinetto segreto (the secret room). Naturally I leered straight back...
Read OnThe Tastes of Tuscany (Part One)
Date: 12/18/2006The December air is crisp and the moon is full, lighting our way between the fields to a family-owned farmhouse in Monte Carlo, near Pistoia.
Read OnMore to Milan than Da Vinci
Date: 12/12/2006Milan's most glorious sight is the duomo (cathedral). Rising like a great Gothic wedding cake from its namesake piazza, the colossus, which Mark Twain called "a poem in marble," brims with belfries, buttresses, and towers.
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