Tag Archives: Italia

About home.

Posted on 01/07/2020 by awtytravels

Slowly, with a lot of very British dithering and even-more-British bursts of anti-social behaviour, our society is opening up. A few days ago, I went on the Tube: my first public transport ride since mid-March. Pubs are rumoured to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Alpi, cafetiere, Carabinieri, Cat, Coronavirus, Covid, Italia, Italy, Local news, Lockdown, Mountains, Piedmont, Piemont, Piemonte, Rutger Hauer, Snow, Tractor, Trivero, Valle Cervo | 22 Comments

Travels in Italy’s 11th most-visited region.

Posted on 06/10/2019 by awtytravels

There are twenty regions in Italy (or perhaps it’s only 19; Molise’s existence, much like dark matter, is still a matter for debate); together in 2018 they hosted a whopping 429 million tourists, half of them foreigners (of whom at … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Alba, Alps, Art, Asti, Autumn, Barbaresco, Barbera, Barolo, Belvedere, Beppe Fenoglio, Biella, Cattle, Cuneo, DOC, DOCG, Dogliani, Europe, Granda, Hills, Horse, horses, Italia, Italy, La Morra, Langhe, Llama, Mare, Modern Art, Monforte d'Alba, Montezemolo, Mountains, Occitania, Piedmont, Piemont, Piemonte, Prealps, Roero, Stallion, Torino, Tourism, Turin, Wine, Winery | 17 Comments

Confessions of a graphomaniac.

Posted on 08/08/2018 by awtytravels

Doctor, dear doctor, help me for I’m a graphomaniac. Yes doctor, I love paper. I adore the smell of the thing, the muffled noise of a pencil running on a smooth sheet. In a nutshell, doctor, I love writing. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Odd ones out, Random memories | Tagged Asia, Beirut, Central Asia, Drawing, Graphomania, Graphomaniac, Italia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mapping, Maps, Memories, Middle East, Mitsubishi, Moleskine, Norris, Note, Pamir, Pen, Sri Lanka, Staedler, Travel, Travel literature, Travelling, Writing | 26 Comments

Fireworks, mountains and sleeping elephants. Wrapping up 2017, in pictures.

Posted on 27/12/2017 by awtytravels

The last trip of the year has just ended; the rucksack’s been duly unpacked and its contents unceremoniously thrown into the washing-up pile, hoping for some merciful hands to put them into the washing machine without the whites turning pink … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Central Asia, China, Europe, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, London, Overlooked locations, Piemonte, Random memories, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, UK | Tagged 2017, 2017 Fireworks, 2017 in photos, 2017 London Fireworks Photos, Alps, Aqespe, Aral, Aral Sea, Aralsk, Asia, Asian elephant, Bactrian camels, Camel, Central Asia, Colombo Fort, Disappearance of Aral sea, Elephant, Fireworks Pictures, Italia, Italy, Jin Mao Tower, Jing Mao tower, Kyrgyzstan, Land Cruiser, London, London Mayor, Mountains, Murghab, National park, New Year's Eve Fireworks, North Aral Sea, NYE, NYE Fireworks, Pamir, Pamir Gap, Pamir Highway, Shanghai, Shanghai Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center, Sleeping elephant, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan railways, Tajikistan, Train, Train travel, Udawalawe | 20 Comments

The land beneath the mountains.

Posted on 18/12/2017 by awtytravels

That’s the name of my region. The land at the feet of the mountains. Click on the photo to open the panorama In my region, topography is binary. Clear cut. It’s either flat, or mountainous. No middle ground, no rolling … Continue reading →

Posted in Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Alpi, Alps, Biella, Bird, Bird spotting, Duck, Emigration, Expat, Fara Novarese, Fields, Fourteener, Geese, Glacier, Immigrant, Italia, Italy, Lake, London, Malpensa, Massazza, Masserano, Massif, Monte Rosa, Musings, nature, North West Italy, Novara, Piedicavallo, Piemonte, Reservoir, Snow, Switzerland, Travel, Vercelli, Vineyard, Water, Winter, Woods | 13 Comments

Goodbye for now, Italy!

Posted on 10/11/2017 by awtytravels

As with most good things (and luckily a fair few bad ones), it all must come to an end. On a nice day in September, the sky akin to Microsoft’s Windows 98 screen saver, we gave the car back to … Continue reading →

Posted in Emilia Romagna, Europe, Italy, Toscana, Veneto | Tagged Contrada, Europe, Ferrara, Fleetwood Mac, Grand Tour, Hills, Italia, Italy, Marco Pantani, Middle Age, Milan, Montalcino, Palio, Papa, Pienza, Pope, Popery, San Marco, San Quirico, Siena, Toscana, Tuscany, Val d'Orcia, Veneto, Venezia, Venice | 19 Comments

Chaos theory applied to abbeys.

Posted on 04/11/2017 by awtytravels

Sometimes you don’t make it, sometimes you break it. Ian Malcom explained it in Jurassic Park, circa 1993. A butterfly can flap its wings in Peking and in Central Park you get rain instead of sunshine. A single valley, two abbeys, … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Toscana | Tagged 1348 Plague, Abbey, Black Death, Chaos Theory, Christianity, Cistercian, Faith, Galgano, Italia, Italy, Jurassic Park, Knights, Middle Ages, Monks, Nunnery, San Galgano, Sant'Antimo, Sword in stone, Toscana, Tuscany, Val d'Orcia | 14 Comments

Of the intrinsic beauty and harmonious forms of Tuscan hills.

Posted on 28/10/2017 by awtytravels

I come from a region where the land is alternatively very flat – filled with rice paddies, corn fields and factories – or very mountainous. There’s really not much of an alternative; it’s either flat as a ruler or climbs … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Toscana | Tagged Cappella di Vitaleta, Chapel of vitaleta, Corn, Europa, Europe, Hills, Italia, Italy, San Quirico d'Orcia, September, Siena, Summer, Toscana, Tuscany, Val d'Orcia, Vineyard, Wine | 13 Comments

Delirious Venezia.

Posted on 13/10/2017 by awtytravels

Thirty-one years, all of which in possess of a passport marked “Repubblica Italiana”, and I had never been to Venezia. I visited Hanoi, Dušanbe and Charlotte, North Carolina, but never made it to the city at the end of the Veneto … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Veneto | Tagged America, Boat, Calle, Canal, Canals, Church, Communism, Cruise ship, Dorsoduro, Europe, Ghetto, Ghetto Nuovo, Hammer and sickle, Italia, Italy, Jew, Maserati, No Grandi Navi, Pollution, Religion, Rialto, San Marco, Sant'Elena, Sticker, Street art, Tourism, Venezia, Venice, Vicenza | 27 Comments

Modern art

Posted on 14/07/2016 by awtytravels

I don’t often go to modern art fairs, mainly because I don’t get it at all, and I have a tendency to express scorn and not-so-educated scathing comments out loud when everyone else is silent (it’s a family gift, Dad … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Art, Arte, Italia, Italy, Paratissima, Piedmont, Piemonte, Torino, Turin | 8 Comments