Category Archives: Italy

The Aunts

Posted on 25 November 2020 by

A small apartment in the middle of Milan. A kitchen, a bathroom, a bed-sitting room. Tiled floors. Tall windows. The aroma of something delicious simmering all day on the stove. Sauces so rich, it only requires a dessertspoon over pasta, … Continue reading →

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Roma di Nuovo

Posted on 24 March 2019 by

Rome again. While I have been lucky enough to visit the Eternal City several times, I always seem to land here in the heat of summer. And any city in the height of summer is hell. But this time it … Continue reading →

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Simply, Frascati

Posted on 12 March 2019 by

It is mid-February, and our last day in Rome. The One & Only has caught a cold and is happy to stay in bed, cuddled up with his pillow and the rugby. I leave him to it and take an … Continue reading →

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…and North Again

Posted on 22 September 2017 by

From Menton, with its glimmering sea and glittering inhabitants, we drove east along the coast and straight into Italy, where the buildings instantly lost their glamour and polish. Manicured gardens became market gardens, pencil pines were exchanged for olive trees … Continue reading →

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Rome: a City of Echoes, Illusions and Yearning…

Posted on 26 July 2017 by

… so says Giotto di Bondone, Renaissance painter. It was the middle of June. We were in Rome to celebrate a significant double birthday that suddenly felt, joyfully, incredibly insignificant among an overwhelming density of history and antiquities. Rome is … Continue reading →

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Childhood Holidays

Posted on 11 August 2016 by

My father found her hanging around outside the Australian Embassy on the Strand in London, just after Christmas 1975. She was already quite elderly, and ran out of puff at the mere mention of a hill. We called her Bella. … Continue reading →

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“I can see clearly now…”

Posted on 11 June 2016 by

Last weekend, in a bustling café on a boulevard in the south of France, I watched two trays of Aperol Spritz heading to neighbouring tables, where diners were keen to kick off with a little splash of sunshine before brunch. As … Continue reading →

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Dreaming of Tuscany…

Posted on 15 November 2013 by

Italy: the land of art, architecture and ancient culture, poetry, pasta and wine; of long, lazy, summer lunches at rough wooden tables strewn with wine bottles and the detritus of a simple feast; of broad, shady terraces overlooking vine-draped hills … Continue reading →

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Una Notte in Italia

Posted on 4 September 2012 by

School went back in August, which means we are back to horrendously early starts, long afternoons of soccer practices and weekends chock-a-block with rugby. If there is a spare moment, the boys are out in the back room madly killing … Continue reading →

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A Splash of Heaven

Posted on 23 August 2012 by

When we left Florence this summer, I had secreted a bottle of twelve year old balsamic vinegar I had bought in the Mercato Centrale. Wrapped tightly in a pair of jeans and tucked into the bottom of my suitcase, it … Continue reading →

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