… whether you are interested in the history of landscaping or not … parks and public gardens reflect the times in which they were created no less than buildings do, because tastes in landscaping vary as much as architectural ones. In theory, it may be possible to adapt a landscaped garden to a newly emerging…
The Piemontese hills may provide a picturesque backdrop, but it is in the flat countryside where the city’s lifeblood flows To the casual observer, it may seem that the countryside in and around Turin is mainly Alpine in nature. The Alps indeed seem to be everywhere … … but while they undoubtedly attract the eye,…
Meet two of modern Italy’s founding fathers, a two-faced royal mansion and the world’s tallest museum In addition to the San Michele hike from our last post, we have prepared two more tours in Turin for you: one “town” walk and one “country” walk, both of them relatively short (with lengths of two to three…
The Sacra di San Michele near Turin is Northern Italy’s grandest and most sacred abbey. Italy’s industrial heartland lies within a triangle formed by Genoa, Milan and Torino, but, this being Italy, these three great industrial towns are hardly the equivalent of Dortmund, Manchester or Cleveland and pack a powerful “triple punch” of beautiful architecture,…
If you want to accompany us on the last stage of our Ligurian hill walk, you’d better be ready for some serious climbing In our most recent post, (perhaps a little misguiding) headlined The Five Walks of Finale Ligure, we ultimately gave you only three: a beach promenade, a stroll through the historical centre, and…
This small Riviera seaside town has something for every hiker: two legs, three legs or four This past winter, we have been exploring hiking trails on our local coast, on either side – French as well as Italian – of the Riviera, and what better place to end this series of walks, as the winter…
Elsewhere in the world, the word may be that “the Russians are coming”; in the coastal region between Nice and Sanremo, they have arrived long ago and been part of the local communities for well over 150 years Once upon a time, before the advent of satellite TV dishes and the world-wide web, immigrants, even…
Apricale may well be the most beautiful but is certainly the most visually stunning of all the towns on the Ligurian hills. It is not only picturesque but also a great base for hiking trips into the Riviera’s mountainous hinterland. Growing out of the cliffside like something perhaps not altogether benign … … the town…
200 years after the event, we followed the Emperor and his army on the first stage of their walk back to Paris and to Waterloo On 1 March 1815, the recently deposed Emperor Napoleon landed with a small band of 1000 loyal soldiers in Golfe Juan near Cannes, arriving from his exile in Elba to…
On the basis of the evidence, it feels safe to say that the Empire’s troops did not come here to enjoy the beautiful beaches The history of the Riviera, if we are honest, begins in the 17th century when its oldest towns were built, and it really picks up 200 years later with the invention…