Looking at Palazzo Loredan, San Marco, the second column in from the left has a graffiti depiction of a man with a long pipe. It is inspired by the remarkable legend of a local fisherman called Biagio. A firm favourite with one and all, this old man used to...
In the Piazza della Minerva, Rome, you will find Bernini’s famous but curious elephant-obelisk. What is much less well-known however, is the symbolism behind the obelisk, which may answer the question as to why Bernini created such an unusual sculpture. Bernini’s design for the base of the obelisk,...
In the Treasury, Castello Sforzesco, Milan you will find an absolute visual delight. Walking west from the courtyard of Las Rocchetta, you come to Torre Castellana, on the ground floor of which is a superb fresco of Argus that has survived unseen for 500 years, but nowadays is open to...
Almost opposite the entrance to the church of San Bartolomeo at the foot of Rialto Bridge is a small sculpture of a head that often passes unnoticed. In bronze, it is the old shop sign for the apothecary “Alla Testa d’Oro” (At the Golden Head) and dates from...
In Via Sant’Ignazio, Rome you will find a spectacularly beautiful library – the Biblioteca Casanatense – which was founded by the Dominican friars of the Monastery of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome at the request of Cardinal Girolamo Casanate, and then inaugurated in 1701 in a structure...
Santa Sabina Basilica, on the Aventine Hill, dates from the 5th century, and it is one of the oldest churches in Rome, although it has frequently undergone major conversions since it was built. In the atrium, by virtue of a small oval window opening into the courtyard of a neighbouring convent,...
Tradition has it that on the 6th July, 1484, a child saw the image of the Virgin and Child painted on the walls of the Prato prison begin to move. After the phenomenon was repeated a number of times, the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Carceri (“of prisons”) was...
Callian, a magnificent village typical of Var, forms a spiral pattern around a private medieval chateau, rebuilt in the 17th century. One of the edifice’s two towers boasts a clock that gives it its name. At the base of the tower, there is a door with a decorated...
In a chapel of the church of Saints Boniface and Alexius, on the Aventine Hill, part of the wooden staircase under which Saint Alexius lived for seventeen years has been preserved. Before the 10th century, there is no record of Saint Alexius in the West, but from then...
Once a week in Chiesa Nuova (Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella), after Saturday evening mass, worshippers can take part in a very strange spectacle – the sexton lets down a Ruben’s painting by remote control to reveal a miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary behind it....
Welcome to my love affair with the food, wine, history and culture of the Mediterranean, past and present. Here you will find not only recipes, drinks and fabulous products, but the history of the food and culture of the Mediterranean.
My purpose is to get you to explore and experience new tastes and along the way to immerse yourself in the wonderful history of this diverse and wonderful region – from Venice to Istanbul, Rome to Dubrovnik, Athens to Crete and all places in between and in the surrounds. Be prepared to be surprised, delighted and enthralled as you take this trip with me.
