Sometimes traveling is strange. You could be sitting in a piazza somewhere in Italy, watching the evening unfold, and it hits you: I should have come here years ago. Not because the place is disappearing. Not because it will be gone tomorrow. But because it is changing in ways that are quiet and irreversible, and … Read more
Most Italy travel advice is about discovery. Find the hidden gem, get off the beaten path, see something no one else has seen. It is good advice, but it misses something important. Some places are worth returning to, not because you missed something the first time, but because you loved them enough to want more. … Read more
Everyone knows Florence, Rome, and Venice. They are spectacular, and they deserve their reputations. But Italy has thousands of towns, and most of them never make it onto the postcards. The ones that do make it are often overcrowded, overpriced, and overrun with souvenir shops selling the same plastic trinkets. The towns on this list … Read more
I still remember the exact moment I realized I had been thinking about Italy all wrong. It wasn’t standing in front of the Colosseum or floating down a Venetian canal. It was sitting on a cracked plastic chair in a Neapolitan back alley, eating a piece of pizza that had been folded into a wallet-sized … Read more
Few places capture the magic of Rome quite like Piazza Navona. Framed by grand Baroque buildings and dominated by Bernini’s magnificent Fountain of the Four Rivers, it feels less like a city square and more like an open-air stage. Street artists, fountains, elegant cafés, and centuries of history come together here, creating the kind of … Read more
Have you ever wondered what it feels like to explore a building that has been standing for almost 2000 years? Well, you have to go to Rome and see the Pantheon for yourself. You walk through the massive bronze doors, you step onto the ancient marble floor, and you look up. And then you stop … Read more
There is a building in Rome that refuses to be just one thing. Walk up to it from the Tiber, and you will see what I mean. From a distance it looks like a fortress, round and solid and slightly menacing, the kind of place you would not want to be locked inside. Get closer, … Read more
In Italy, there are moments that will stop you right in your tracks. Emerging from the Duomo metro station in Milan is one of them. One moment you’re underground, the next you’re standing in the vast Piazza del Duomo, and there it is. A colossal confection of pink-hued white marble, impossibly intricate, rising into the … Read more
I have seen lots of great sculptures in my life, but there are two that live in my mind rent-free. One stands in the Accademia Gallery in Florence, while the other sits inside St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City. Both were done by the same man. Today I will tell you everything I know … Read more
I want to start this blog post with a caveat. Tuscany is a place that should be experienced for several days (or even weeks) rather than just a day. However, if you only have a day in Florence, this day trip will show you the highlights, and you will genuinely have a great time. In … Read more