The latest stories
Our stories go where a guidebook stops: the rituals of the Italian coffee bar, the makers keeping old crafts alive, the festivals and kitchens of small towns, and the routes worth slowing down for. Each one is written to be useful on the ground and worth reading at home, and each links to the places, dishes and makers it names, so one story leads you to the next.
95 stories
The Feast of the Seven Fishes: An Italian-American Christmas
The story behind the seafood table, why the number varies, and how to choose dishes for your own Christmas Eve.
Christmas in Italy, Region by Region
Explore all 20 regions through their Christmas tables and journeys, with regional dishes to cook and practical notes for choosing a winter visit.
Italy in December: Weather, Closures and What to Pack
Build the trip around the dates that matter: holiday openings, local forecasts, museum visits, market evenings and the journeys between them.
Italian Christmas Traditions, from the Presepe to the Befana
The shared holiday calendar, local gift traditions, the Nativity scene and the meals: understand the season, then choose what to see or cook.
Italian Christmas Recipes, Course by Course
Choose a broth, pasta or fish course, a main dish and the sweets to finish: complete regional recipes, grouped by how they fit the meal and the preparation time they need.
Italian Christmas Cookies and Sweets
Fruit cakes, almond biscuits, honeyed pastries and filled sweets: choose a few contrasting textures, then organise the doughs, fillings and finishes around the recipes you want to make.Christmas in Italy: Traditions, Table and Where to Go
Italy's Christmas runs a month, from the Immacolata on 8 December to the Befana on 6 January: the markets, the meatless Eve, the long lunch, the presepe and the witch who closes the season.
Caffè Sospeso: Naples and the Suspended Coffee
Caffè sospeso is the Neapolitan tradition of paying for an extra espresso and leaving it, anonymously, for a stranger who can't spare the change. Here's where it came from and how to take part.
The Moka Pot: How Italy Makes Coffee at Home
The moka pot has made coffee in Italian homes since 1933. Here's how it works, why it isn't espresso, how to brew it the Italian way, and why it's really about ritual.
Regional Italian Coffee: Bicerin, Marocchino, Caffè Leccese
Beyond espresso lies a map: Turin's layered bicerin, the chocolatey marocchino, Lecce's iced almond caffè leccese, and the shakerato. A guide to Italy's regional coffee specialties.
How to Order Coffee in Italy Like a Local
An Italian bar runs on a quick, specific ritual: stand at the counter, pay at the cassa, say 'un caffè.' Here's exactly how to order coffee in Italy without missing a beat.
Types of Italian Coffee: Every Drink at the Bar, Decoded
Espresso, macchiato, cappuccino, lungo, ristretto, corretto. A clear, friendly guide to every type of Italian coffee, what is in each cup, and when locals actually drink it.
Cappuccino After Lunch in Italy: Is It Really Against the Rules?
Yes, cappuccino is a breakfast drink in Italy, but the 'no cappuccino after lunch' rule is wildly overblown. Here's the real, nuanced answer, why the custom exists, and what to order after a meal instead.
The Last Pasta Makers of Bologna
At six in the morning, on wooden boards older than many of the city's restaurants, Bologna's sfogline roll sheets of egg pasta thin enough to let the light through. For a generation the craft looked as if it might not find a second act. In Bologna, quietly, it has.
Summer's Acqua Pazza, the Fishermen's Cookery of Cetara
On the Amalfi Coast, the dish fishermen cooked with whatever the morning's catch failed to sell now sits on restaurant menus under its own name. The thing itself, in July, is simpler than its fame.
Three Days in the Val d'Orcia
Pienza, Montalcino, Montepulciano: three towns, a cheese, two great wines and enough white gravel road between them to slow down properly. A walker's itinerary for late May, when the grass is still long and the summer crowds have not yet arrived.
The Workshop Apprentices of Florence
In workshops around Santa Maria Novella and across the river in the Oltrarno, Florentine bookbinders still sew, round and cover old books by hand. The training takes years, the work is invisible when it is done well, and the city's libraries depend on it.
Orecchiette on a Pugliese Tuesday
In the whitewashed kitchens of Cisternino, orecchiette are still shaped the way they always were: one thumb, one knife, a bag of semola rimacinata, and a glass of Primitivo on the sideboard for when the trays are full.
Harvest in the Langhe
On the Serralunga ridge, the Nebbiolo harvest waits on the fog, the cold nights and the feel of a cluster in the palm. A few weeks in October decide a wine that may still be drinking beautifully in thirty years.
Alta Via in the Dolomites
A single day on Alta Via 1, from Rifugio Lagazuoi down to Passo Falzarego and up to Rifugio Nuvolau, a hut that has stood on its rock dome since 1883. Around ten kilometres, a good deal of descent, and a grappa that waits until your boots are off.
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