Were it not for the subtropical heat and the bright colours blaring in the sunlight, Rome in summer reminds you of the sea in winter. It’s “just a black-and-white film seen on TV”: a film from the Fifties, say, with Aldo Fabrizi riding around on his bicycle, or a young Alberto Sordi making his leisurely way to the Bocca della Verità, through streets bare of people and vehicles. In the summer, you can drive from the EUR district to Portonaccio in a mere twenty ...

Some Italians consider it the “real” New Year’s Day, in that it marks the beginning of the end of one season, and points towards the next. And the people who argue this are not without their reasons, especially this year, in this bizarre 2022, with the Italian government embroiled in one of its most convulsive crises in living memory – even worse than the “beach governments” that the Christian Democrats used to put out. But unlike New ...

A few miles from the coast of Romagna, there lies a truly enchanting place.
 
If you leave the glimmering shoreline and venture a little way inland, in the direction of Montefeltro, a thousand surprises await you. Crests and drops, tight bends, often challengingly steep slopes, and woodland that alternates with the arable and villages. We are up in the Conca valley, which starts between the coastal towns of Cattolica and Misano and runs to the ancient walls of the Montefiore fortress, an immense structure that ...

At Tivoli, the ancient Romans must have been very happy indeed. A modest altitude and the fresh waters of the Aniene river made it a place of delicious tranquillity. And today, people visit Tivoli primarily to see the work of one of the greatest Roman emperors – one of the harshest when the need arose, but also one of the most cultured, sensitive, emotional and inspired. 

Hadrian essentially intended Tivoli as a love nest, as we know from Marguerite Yourcenar’s Memoirs of Hadrian (1951), which ranks ...

It goes back a thousand years, Finale Emilia, and it has been a bordertown for every one of them. Today it divides the province of Modena from the province of Ferrara, and the local accent – with consonants slightly jagged and abuzz – reflects the influence of both neighbours. In centuries past, it marked the boundary between the Papal States and the Duchy of Modena, though this political iron curtain was belied by the open, sprawling landscape.
With three canals and eight bridges, ...