The excitement leading up to Siena’s Palio
I’m in Siena and it’s literally only a couple of weeks until the most important event of the year – the PALIO on the Piazza del Campo. What I’m witnessing now is the lead up to this historic horse race that has been an annual fixture since the 6th century. The ‘contrades’ or districts within the city […]
Siena’s Cathedral
It’s not often I rave about churches especially in Italy where there are so many, but the Cathedral (Duomo) in Siena is a great Gothic building filled with treasures. What really stood out for me was the white and greenish-black striped marble. As well as being the symbolic colours of Siena, it gives the Cathedral […]
Barolo, Italy’s wine and food mecca
A friends big birthday bought us to the Piedmont region in Italy’s north-east. It’s not as well-known as many other Italian regions, but we loved it and immersed ourselves in this wine and food mecca. We flew into Milan and headed south-west for just under two hours. Passing rice covered plains it was not what we had expected to see, […]