A recent invitation to explore Versilia in Tuscany had me expecting corn fields and countryside, traditional Italian cooking, and picnics after a good days hike. I’m sure you can do all those things quite easily, but this trip to Tuscany was a little alternative… You can see my musings and photos from Tuscany in the trip write-up for BudgetTraveller.org, called ‘Five ways Versilia won’t be the Tuscany you expected’, and below I’m publishing a few more photos from Versilia that show yet more of the alternative side to Tuscany.…

Earlier this year I spent a month studying Italian in Rome, taking two weeks of lessons at an Italian language school. I made some great progress there and in Sicily afterwards, gabbing away in my patchy Italian whenever I had an excuse. Whether you prefer to learn the language before you visit a place or you don’t mind jumping into the deep end, here’s why I think you should learn Italian in Italy, and Rome in particular.…

While I was in Rome at the end of May, I decided to spend the best part of 36 hours straight making a short video showing some of the great food experiences I’d been having in Italy. So here is my video of handmade Italian pasta and fresh pizza that I hope look good enough to eat. Featuring the expert pasta maker Sfoglina Luisa of Bologna making fresh pasta by hand, fellow tourists making their own pizzas on a food tour of Campo di Fiori in Rome, and some scenes from the lovely towns of Piacenza and Bobbio in Emilia Romagna.…

Happy Photo Friday! The first thing to appear on the site from my recent time in Bologna is…  Pasta! I had my first attempt at handmade Italian pasta with expert instruction for making my own Tortellone (big tortelli) and Tortellini (little tortelli) from sfoligna Luisa. A ‘sfoglina’ is to pasta what a master baker is to bread, so I learnt the basics from her quickly.…

Once upon a time I went WWOOFing in Sicily. This birds eye view is of a little cluster of rustic Sicilian cottages and farm buildings, in the dead centre of Sicily near Resuttano. It is the privately owned Borgo Tudia, a 200 hectare estate that is home to one of my WWOOF hosts in Sicily at the start of last year.…