In 1757, Giustino Valmarana, belonging to the old nobility of Vicenza and owner of the villa, invited the Venetian artist Gianbattista Tiepolo to give colour…
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Slender, Indian women were walking along the side of the road. They had such natural grace, but when we approached them and could see their faces we were shocked. Skin as dry…
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In the 18th century, the Grand Tour was something that every English youth of good-standing had to have in order to complete his formal education. He was accompanied by a servant and the course…
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We can all imagine what a typical, traditional meal in Tuscany is like, slices of various salamis and cured meats, grilled bread drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and mounded with chopped tomato, ravioli
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The sight of tourists walking, loaded down with bags with all the known Italian brands printed on them, is as common in the Piazza di Spagna as that of pilgrims around Saint Peter’s, The record is held by the Japanese. It is unbelievable what they buy…
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I am so very fond of the town of Grasse for many reasons, but mainly because it is the setting of some parts of my travel novel Provence, Fragrances. A typical town of Provence exuding its own unique…
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When the bustle of the summer passed, the village returned to its wonderful quiet. That was the time when I truly enjoyed its beauty. I walked along narrow, cobbled streets; I talked with artists of the breathing art…
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As a child, it was my dream and when I grew up, I had the opportunity of getting to know it. Cap-Martin, Cap-Ferrat, Cap-d’Antibes: these three peninsulas leaned towards the sea, consist one of the most…
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Oh, those Roman squares, I thought, and my mood changed immediately! They are her outdoor living rooms. I was sitting down and I felt my spirit uplifted looking at so much beauty around me as I listened...
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I like to think back to these folkloric images of Rome, which have now vanished but are beautifully captured in the watercolours of Northern-European painters, some of which can be seen…
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Last September I was in Andalusia. I visited Ronda, the birthplace of modern bullfighting, with the elegant mansions of the local aristocracy, its wonderful iron-wrought balconies and patios…
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Sitting in the library at home, I was reading the book by Hemingway A Moveable Feast (1964), set in Paris, and my mind started to fly away with him to the bar of the Hȏtel Ritz in the 1920s, when he was an aspiring…
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I was asking myself where I had seen the Maharani’s palace before, watching her walk gracefully through an inner, marble courtyard wrapped in a gauzy sari. When I realized it was the Rambagh…
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It is true that romanticism gives mythical dimensions to great creators and wraps them with generosity. For example, François-Réné de Chateaubriand faces the waves…
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Fortunately, there are some cities in the world that preserve not only their old beauty and nobility, but also their traditional life-style. Charleston in South Carolina is a vivid example…
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He was wearing orange trousers, a jacket in a shade of olive green, and a scarf in a hue of apricot. He was enjoying his pipe and had a copy of the Gazzettino, the local paper, folded under his arm.
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Looking at the Palazzo Barbaro where Isabella used to take her Italian lessons, I asked myself what it was that had attracted her, along with a few other Bostonians, to settle herself at the lagoon.
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I can’t hide that I like Florence in the winter, with its biting cold, and I bundled up well to walk through its streets. I wasn’t the only one with a scarf wrapped around her face, there were other Florentines who…
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