ONE: VENICE, OFF-SEASON Off-season Venice: by all means, travel outside summer season or Carnival week (unless you have tickets to one of the official balls, then you simply have to throw it all in). Venice is so full of tourists that you can hardly call any time of the year “off season”, but I discovered that La Serenissima is only serene in winter, and maybe some blissful days in early spring or late autumn. Check this out for Venice in winter. The wind in the lagoon may be chilly at times, but you’ll discover a truer, more fascinating face of Venice. TWO: A ROOM WITH A VIEW A room with…
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Florence #SINEQUANON: How to See the Most Beautiful City
ONE: The view from San Miniato al Monte Let everybody else stop at Piazzale Michelangelo for the view over the city. While a very good spot for the pics, it is basically an over-crowded parking. Go uphill, Via delle Porte Sante, to San Miniato al Monte. This is the church with the most beautiful view in the world. TWO: THE ROOFTOPS OF FLORENCE Florence has a magical skyline to dream on to. The miraculous dome of the Duomo, the unmistakable tower of the Palazzo Vecchio, the tiled rooftops, the marbled facades and the Renaissance palazzi create an immersive feeling that becomes the city copyright. At your hotel, ask for a room…
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BUT FIRST WE FLORENCE IN STYLE
It is that time of the year. Grape harvest season means Toscana for the happy few. Two weeks of the slow, artful, almost timeless happiness in the Tuscan countryside. But first we Florence in style. When Stendhal visited Florence for the first time, he experienced a one-time feeling: a mixture of amazement, beatitude and exhilaration that proved literally overwhelming. He was dizzy and confused and sick with emotion, while physically incapable of leaving the city. I felt it too, my first time in Firenze: the allure, the wonder, the perfect beauty and the inconceivable happiness of just being there. You know that special tension you feel when you’re desperately in love,…
