Eat. Ride. Drink. in Le Marche | Test your cycling skills in Italy

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Church bells ring out as we enter Urbino, a walled medieval city in the Marche region of Italy. We ride our bikes up and down steep and narrow cobble-stoned alleyways, stopping at a café, across from the Palazzo Ducale, the main attraction in this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The palace is considered a cultural gem because of its Renaissance paintings. But on this hot day last spring we don’t have the time or energy to visit. Instead of works by Raphael and Piero della Francesca, all I want is an Americano and Diet Coke to replenish my electrolytes.

Our group of four riders - a retired Whistler realtor, two Brits and myself - is weary after several long climbs. We’re only half way into a 100-kilometre, four-hour ride. And we’re here for the romance of Italian cycling, not past artistic glories.

We’re staying at the Belvedere Bike Hotel, which has become a magnet for recreational cyclists - many of them from Vancouver - who want guided rides through the kind of hilly pastoral terrain and towns they may have seen in broadcasts of the Giro d’Italia.

The Belvedere has gained a meme-like quality among road bike riders in the Vancouver area. Or at least those who own high-priced carbon-fibre bikes, religiously check their heart rate monitors, enter Gran Fondo races and happily rise at dawn to watch live TV feeds of European Grand Tour bike races.

Not that we mind. It’s an adrenalin rush. It’s why we came to the Belvedere.

We’re happily dazed and spent when we finally dismount at the hotel. Next on the agenda is a poolside lunch, a few hours of rest watching the French Open tennis, a swim in the sea or the pool, aperitivos at dusk and a dinner buffet, with a never-ending supply of vino rosso. Eat. Ride. Drink. […]

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Rome ignored by the guidebooks

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Stand in the Colosseum’s massive bowl and you can practically hear the roar of the ancient crowd. But to capture the sounds of today’s Rome, it’s best to get away from the flurry of tourists and settle into a quaint trattoria…

Hidden gems — ignored by the guidebooks, well off the tourist path — await in nearly every nook of this wondrous city. Of course, visitors should crane their necks at the Vatican, sip espresso at an open-air bar in Piazza Navona and climb the Spanish Steps. But in a place with a history so long and rich that it is dubbed “the Eternal City,” only one approach seems plausible: Peel away the layers, savoring each one, to get a deeper sense of the place. […]

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Drink Le Marche | New Year's Toasts: Passerina Brut, Velenosi, Ascoli Piceno

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Passerina Brut Velenosi, Charmat Method

The Passerina vine, with its rich aromatic properties, is particularly apt to make sparkling wine with the Charmat method. From harvest to fermentation, a new, very fine wine is produced, aged on the lees for about 90 days (Charmat Lungo). The wine obtained is a sparkling wine with a fine and persistent perlage, creamy and silky, with heady and enthralling scents creating and living up to the expectations and makes you want to drink more. Alcohol content: 12,5%

Colour: Bright yellow with greenish shades. Persistent and thin perlage.

Smell: A successful fusion of soft fruity nuances and fresh flowery sensations. Intense, fine, fragrant, recalling acacia flowers, pleasurable and very elegant, with white fruit, peach and citron aromas.

Taste: Lively citrus fruit sensations, soft nuances of bread crust, enthralling aromas of white flowers, together with freshness and flavour (enhanced by its appetizing petillant) are pleasingly in contrast with the smoothness of this wine. Excellent persistence with an agreeable taste/smell match. […]

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Handmade Slippers by Farfalla

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High expression of quality craftsmanship, the Farfalla brand is linked to the production of authentic handmade Italian shoes.

Commonly called “slippers”, but not only suitable for indoor use, Farfalla footwear fit perfectly in the category of modern slip-on loafers, a timeless line of shoes that today is so much appreciated by major designers labels as to become trendy.

For each season, Farfalla offers several models of open or closed slippers, for man or woman.

Comfortable and elegant, Farfalla slippers are distinguished into two main categories:

- evergreen, for a timeless but contemporary look;

- glam, for a fashionable and trendy look.

In addition to the traditional Classic line slippers, for each of the above categories Farfalla shoe factory also produces particularly soft and flexible slippers practical for travelling.

To meet the customer’s wishes, Farfalla shoes can be customized with a name or initials and manufactured with further variations to their standard features.

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Gondels, Gondels, Gondels.... – Venetie, Italië | Reisreporter.nl

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Venetie is de stad van de gondels. Er varen er duizenden en duizenden en in het hoogseizoen leveren ze hun gewicht in goud op. Venetie, 15 december 2013. - Venetie, Italië | Reisreporter.nl

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Scossa di terremoto nel Sannio avvertita anche a Napoli

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Registrata poco dopo le 18 con magnitudo 5. Scene di panico in alcune strade del centro. Paura anche nel Casertano e a Benevento. De Magistris su Twitter. “Nessun danno, utilizziamo i cellullari solo se necessario”. Anche Letta segue la situazione. Almeno altre sette scosse di assestamento fino alle 19, non avvertite dalla popolazione. A Maddaloni, un uomo si lancia dal balcone per la paura e si ferisce leggermente

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Nazareno Gabrielli: still alive the history of Leather Goods

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Clean, meticulously crafted contours: attention to design is the defining strength of Nazareno Gabrielli.

Cutting-edge technologies and our creative team of designers combine to produce unique objects.

An intuitive approach to the craft, meticulous care in the production of every item and carefully researched solutions designed to ensure optimum use.

Attention to detail is one of the core principles of our philosophy

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Making mozzarella at a farm dairy near Altamura

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Making mozzarella at a farm dairy near Altamura: There are more than 400 different cheeses in Italy. Most of them are still made at small farm dairies. And there’s nothing like the taste of fresh mozzarella. Entering the small, farm dairy at masseria La Selva between Altamura and Matera feels like opening a forgotten page in a history book. In Denmark, 97% of all cheese and dairy products are supplied by a few huge co-operative dairy plants, while the Italians seem to have skipped the industrialization of dairy farming all together. La Selva still produces cheese and milk in a room next door to the stables, where a herd of 30-40 curious cows are munching hay. The distance from farm to fork is nonexistent.

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