“Vivamus mentre stiamo vivendo”
At the moment, we in Manciano are getting ready for the summer festival Vivamus.
Vivamus is a festival for anyone who has ever dreamt of living the Tuscan lifestyle. It’s a taste of the traditions, a chance to experience the emotions and, of course, an excuse to indulge in the food (and wine!) [...]
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that me and my husband-to-be Giulio spent an afternoon trying to find the incredible stone chapel of Poggio Conte.
Built by Benedictine Cistercian monks-turned-hermits in the Middle Ages, this stone chapel is hidden in thick bush near Ischia di Castro, in Southern Tuscany and is supposed to be one hell of a site to [...]
No, I’m not practicing the alphabet. That’s what one American tourist exclaimed as he was admiring the Leaning Tower of Pisa one sunny afternoon.
No joke, I was there admiring the tower too and I heard him… I guess some people express their love in weird ways…
Today’s post isn’t about a place as such, sorry to disappoint, it’s about a person who I think is the living embodiment of country Tuscany.
The ultimo buttero
Today I’m back in Southern Tuscany, the Maremma, my home… where my Tuscan travels began all those years ago and where I met my soon-to-be-husband Giulio.
And we decided to do some exploring… unfortunately things didn’t exactly go to plan.
If you have no interest in Twilight look away now!
But Montepulciano is an absolutely gorgeous town regardless of Twilight… you’ll miss out hearing all about if you look away!!!
My goodness! Sometimes I feel like all I ever write about is Florence!
But fear not avid reader, if you exist, I’m not always going to blog about Florence, it’s just that I had to tell you this story.
Back when I first arrived in Tuscany as a naive 18-year-old fresh out of a very conservative, all-girls’-school in Australia a couple of [...]
Obviously Florence is beautiful. You hardly need me to tell you that! But it’s also home to an incredible annual chocolate festival that will make you abandon restraint and embrace gluttony!!!
I found out about this fiera del cioccolato by accident. I was Googling chocolate festivals in the Maremma, where I live, and was heartbroken to learn that the Grosseto festival [...]
It sure as hell didn’t start like Under the Tuscan Sun.
I may have had all the clichés that accompany your typical romance film heroine. Young, unattached and female? Check! Alone in a foreign country with lofty dreams about changing the world? Check! Stupidly unable to resist the wiles of a charming local boy? Check!
But as promising [...]
Le Cascate del Mulino
You really never know what to expect when you visit the Maremma.
So little is known about this corner of Southern Tuscany. First time tourists almost always miss it. Instead it’s often the domain of seasoned travellers who have already seen everything else Italy has to offer and are looking for more. More often than not, they’re [...]
