Even compared to the thousands of other jewels in Italy’s crown, the island of Ponza shines with a blazing light, and not only because of the striking whiteness of much of its rock. So much beauty and wonder is enclosed within these few square kilometers of land: historic ruins, panoramas that rob you of your breath, and even traces of humankind make for an island not only unique, but irreplaceable. It’s hardly surprising that Ponza has been used as a set for dozens of films, long and short, documentaries, TV ...

If there is one dish for which Italy can claim sole and complete credit, without fear of cavil or contradiction, it’s risotto. And that’s despite the fact that rice-growing is anything but an ancient practice here – it really only took off in the second half of the nineteenth century, when the Cavour Canal was dug in Piedmont to irrigate Novara, Vercelli, all the way to Lomellina. And it’s despite the fact that the most popular varieties of rice, Carnaroli and Vialone Nano, are not autochthonous but ...

September is the month that marks the end of summer, and the return to work or to school. It’s a month of new beginnings, of great expectations, and bit of trepidation about what the future holds. In Tuscany, September is also the month of the grape harvest, the event that immediately comes to mind when you think of winemaking. This magical meeting of humanity and nature has filled books, poems, paintings and films. In countryside traditions, the moment when the last grape is plucked from the vine is the moment the party ...

More than any other, September is the month of transition. Technically speaking, two thirds of it is still summer, but our thoughts have taken a turn for the autumnal. The torrid heat has given way to fresher temperatures, the days are growing shorter, and we are all going back to work or school. And once more, our bodies crave more substantial meals; our palates are ready to move on from those summer salads that began to pall long ago, however colourful they are.

September, however, is also the month when we pick ...

The fruit known as the Bizzaria has a truly extraordinary story, and it’s worth taking the time to tell it.

Among the rarest of fruits, it was rediscovered some thirty years ago in the Medici villa of Castello, in the hills above Florence. The fruits that grow here turned out to be the very same as those illustrated in a book from the seventeenth century by one Pietro Nati, then director of the Botanical Gardens in Pisa. He called this fruit Bizzarria. 

But ...