How to spend it
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
Belluno | Made-to-Measure
Among the lovely people I was lucky enough to meet while prospecting up in the Veneto not long ago was Elisabetta Venturelli, an achingly young but singularly talented fashion designer from Belluno. A recent virtuoso graduate of Milan's Istituto Marangoni, world-class fashion academy which counts ... More
Rome | Brand Aid
Fendi for fountains? Yep, you heard right. It's the catchphrase for a noble gesture announced a couple of weeks ago by the legendary luxury goods brand. Chairman and CEO Pietro Beccari, backed up by Silvia Venturini Fendi and Karl Lagerfeld, has pledged something like €2.5m to fund ... More
Martina Franca | The Sartorialist
Someone recently asked me where I lived. My answer was somewhere between Matera and 1C. That's were I spend most of my time nowadays. Luckily for me, 1A has been occupied by some pretty interesting people lately, turning wasted transit time into constructive ... More
Noviglio | The Culture of Plastics
The night before last I was at a party in Noviglio, just outside Milan, where the Luti family had invited a few people over to present a book: Kartell - The Culture of Plastics. Their book, given that the Lutis are Kartell, ... More
Rome | Mikiway Concept Store
If I happened to have a shop in Rome, it would definitely be a lot like Mikiway. Let me explain. Meet the people: the store is run by Angelo, a Roman gentleman of charm and distinction, and his fabulously creative Romanian wife of many years, Mihaela. ... 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
Rome | Established 1938
There's not many people know this, but bang in the centre of today's Rome there's still a tiny workshop where the same family has been plying the same skills for nearly 85 years. Only since 1961 at their present address in ... More
Venice | Arnoldo & Battois
Last Saturday I was in no mood or condition for shopping. From the waist up I was still wearing part of the outfit I'd put together for a morning conference in Belluno. This was paired with post-conference jeans - but two ... More
Cesena | Staying on the Treadmill
In a country where everyone's talking about wellness , few know that one of the top-ranking fitness-equipment manufacturers in the world is based in Emilia Romagna, in Cesena to be precise, about an hour down the road from Bologna. Technogym is the ... More
Salerno | Marsia
Having studied ceramics myself way back in another life in Cape Town, I'm partial to potters. Marsia is one of my latest finds. I stumbled on the studio quite by chance one steamy afternoon last summer, in the laid-back seaside city ... More
Genoa | Cashmere Technology
I met Andrea Moretti quite by chance in Genoa, the home town he loves and where he opened the store which showcases his ingenious cashmere product. Moa is the name of the shop, bang in the centre of town, and Moatech ... More
and check out other stuff I do...
