New seating from old barrels, an unique patio from reclaimed flags, even an entire contemporary Tuscan home from seasoned and salvaged materials: that's what Sestini & Corti do, zealously. Established 40-odd years ago in the hills outside Siena to supply superior traditional building materials, locally crafted ... More
21 May 2013
The Italian première of the latest Dom Pérignon vintage would hardly be a humble affair. In fact, it's to be a week-long event in an exclusive ad hoc installation in the magnificent courtyard of 15th-century Palazzo Carmagnola in central Milan. Check ... More
18 May 2013
For one of the most dashing country hotels south of Rome, push on all the way down to eastern Sicily and the lower slopes of Mount Etna, where you'll find Zash, tucked away among orange and lemon groves just south of the coastal ... More
15 May 2013
Coming very soon, a grand celebration of greenery - of the garden and landscape variety - in Rome. And not in any old exhibition area or park but magnificently atop Renzo Piano's Auditorium Parco della Musica, in the hanging garden designed by ... More
11 May 2013
And what on earth does that mean? Well, it's the title given to a nationwide spree of events where the digital universe and planet science meet around a table with the excuse of a culinary binge! Fruit of an alliance between Digital ... More
9 May 2013
An extraordinary restaurant opened in the Florentine suburbs a few months ago. It's a case of split personality, in which the modest canteen hall of a working silverware factory is transmogrified as the sun sets to become the city's coolest eatery, ... More
6 May 2013
From the crumbling ruins of a 17th century watchtower, a little gem of architectural reclamation. Apulian architects Gloria Valente and Vittorio Carofiglio just won a first prize at the Apulia Marble Awards 2013 for the project which lent new life to one of the region's network ... More
3 May 2013
No. 22 Via San Quirino, in Pordenone, that is. An address to note if you're looking for something a little different in the way of hospitality up there in the North East. A peculiarly attractive modernistic construction with an overhanging terrace on ... More
30 April 2013
Or What Didn't We Get Up To During Design Week 2013. Once upon a time, Design Week in Milan was synonymous with the International Furnishings Fair, aka I Saloni. That's still the official, trade face of it, of course, up at the Exhibition ... More
27 April 2013
Gianni Versace is the undisputed if absent protagonist of an exhibition at Naples' Palazzo Mondragone. Eclectic inspirations, boundless imagination, vivid colour, fearless patterns, and the metal bits - they're all there in around 200 items designed by one of the planet's ... More
24 April 2013
It's not often we get news from Sardinia, still less the chance to get over there and scout for ourselves. But Li Licci sounds like heaven for outdoorsy travellers and gourmets. In a valley on the uplands of central Gallura in the ... More
21 April 2013
No barrelling past the Botticellis or scurrying through the sculpture hall on April 27. Slow Art Day, celebrated worldwide with events inviting if not actually obliging us to slacken the pace and take a good long look at some artwork, is upon ... More