Eco chic
Bettolle | Ageing Well
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 ... More
Rome | Eternal Greenery
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
Turin | Le Papille
When three smart and determined women get together to fulfil a dream, it's going to work. These particular three, Letizia, Rossella and Valentina, opened their Turin kitchen and shop with the aim of providing good cooking and healthy food, sustainably and affordably, in a laid-back, ... More
Pizzo | Piccolo Grand Hotel
Crisp and cool in the turquoise-on-white of Greek island postcards, the Piccolo Grand Hotel basks on another Mediterranean shore, on Calabria's Tyrrhenian coast. More precisely, at Pizzo, an engaging little port built on a rocky outcrop with steep narrow streets, the ... More
Ripatransone | The Mission House
I haven't actually been there myself, yet, but anyone who has can't commend the Relais del Colle enough. It's a little out of the way, but then that's the whole point: a rural pile in a superb hilltop location where ... More
Trento | MUSE
Trento has a new museum as architecturally futuristic as it is conceptually innovative. Or rather, for the moment it has the magnificent structure designed by Renzo Piano, already part of a new urban landscape, while internal fixtures and fittings by the ... More
Levice | Back to Nature
I recently found myself in one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places on earth. Scouting around with people who've now become friends (Elisa, Mauro and the other guys who were part of our troupe), my photographer John and I set out ... More
Sesto San Giovanni | useDesign
The useDesign logo says a lot about the objects it adorns. It says they're rigorously hand-(re)made and all-Italian. It pretty much guarantees they're good-looking, quirky and exclusive. It promises eye-catching colours and that vintage air of familiar things put to unfamiliar tasks. ... More
Online | Pizza Boy Start-up
The first Italian web start-up entirely bankrolled by crowdfunding went online a few weeks ago. It's called Fattelo! and it's all about coming up with ideas collectively and then doing-it-yourself ecologically. Behind the new concept are four canny lads: Antonio from Florence, ... More
Santa Croce sull’Arno | Waste Not
Industrial waste disposal and treatment isn't sexy. A company doing that kind of work is probably in need of an image makeover, and Waste Recycling in Tuscany has blazed such a trail. For years CEO Maurizio Giani has been fostering a positive corporate image with ... More
Matera | Elisa&Janna
Here's one of those magical partnerships, a case of - to paraphrase Aristotle - the whole being undeniably greater than the sum of its nevertheless remarkable parts. When I first met Johanna Curti she was quite rightly floundering in Matera, desperately ... More
Zafferana Etnea | Volcanic Design
I haven't been over to seductive Sicily in a while. From what I hear, this might just be good enough a reason to get back to Italy's coolest island soon. A working estate overlooking the eastern coast, around 20km north of Catania, Monaci delle Terre Nere lies on the ... More
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