Never before has our civilization revolved so much around the image. Image in the strict sense of the word – photos etc – and in the more metaphorical perceptions of brands, icons, celebrity. Smart money surrounds itself with the talent that can handle this incredible new force, which is also an opportunity, or indeed a range of opportunities.

And who better than the new generations, for whom the digital is second nature, to capture such a strange period of our history? Well, Ruffino organised a ...

It’s not rare for parts of Italy to be distorted in shape and substance by arbitrary, administrative borders, dividing the integral and blurring the distinct. This has happened in the Romagna, the Garfagnana and the Lunigiana, to name but a few. And the same fate has befallen the Maremma, which follows the southern Tuscan coast down to Lazio, at the gates of Civitavecchia.
Maremma is a land apart, compared to the Tuscany of the Crete Senesi, the Chianti area, or touristy Florence. In that sense, it’s a bit ...

We know that the Etruscans – in their tongue which has yet to be decoded – called them Turan and Laran. These names mean nothing to us today: our language, which derives heavily from Latin, has got us used to calling them Venus and Mars. Or if we want to be even more classical, we could go back to the Greek: Aphrodite and Ares.

It’s interesting how all the major civilisations of the ancient Mediterranean found a place in their respective cosmologies for gods that ...

Very recently, we’ve talked about the Maremma and its red wines, and we’ve touched on the idea that the sharpest commentators seem to champion: namely, that there is no one single Maremma, but a number of Maremmas. Wikipedia seconds this, enumerating a Pisan Maremma, a Grossetan Maremma – which is often taken as synonymous with the Maremma tout court – and most southern of all, the Lazial Maremma. This becomes easier to understand once you appreciate the incredible variety of ...

The grape harvest is over. The tension that defined recent weeks seems to have dissipated. It’s time to stop. It’s time to take stock.

Frost, hail, drought and sudden storms: 2021 has spared no one. France suffered a 29% drop in yield compared to last year, -25% compared to the average of the last five years. The intense cold at the start of spring, plus the strong summer rains (and the resulting mold) hit vineyards across Europe. In Germany’s Ahr valley, the most northern ...