Sicily is arguably the Italian region with the most varied historical past. Over the centuries, it was ruled by Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Swabians, French, Spaniards, and Austrians, before becoming part of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies and finally Italy, after the unification of the country in 1861. All of those dominations left indelible traces in the region’s …
Rediscovering Italy: a Road Trip Travelogue
What do you do when travel abroad is severely restricted during a global pandemic? One thing you can still do, in most cases, is to travel around your own country, and this is what I did this year. Instead of taking one or more trips abroad, as I usually do every year, I decided to embark on a two-week road …
A Hike To The Seceda
The name Seceda denotes the westernmost peak along the ridgeline that divides the Val Gardena (Gröden) from the Val di Funes (Villnoßtal) and that culminates with the Odle (Geisler) mountains, part of the Puez-Odle group in the Dolomites. On the southern side, this ridge degrades gently with green lawns dotted with mountain huts, but on the northern side it drops …
A Day in Ljubljana, the Capital of Slovenia
by Pia Parolin I was in Trieste for work and had a spare day, one of those cold sunny winter days where the sky is just marvellous blue. So, I decided for Ljubljana which is just one hour drive away. I had been there as a kid but I can hardly remember it. And so much has changed since the …
A First Taste of Japan in the Fall
I think I might be developing a serious case of Mal d’Asie, not unlike those who have visited Africa and can’t get rid of a feeling of nostalgia and longing desire to go back there, called Mal d’Afrique. In recent years I’ve traveled to the UAE, Oman, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, and just few months ago to Japan as well. …
Fall Colors in the Dolomites
I believe the Dolomites are the most beautiful mountains in the world. Convince me otherwise. To be honest, I haven’t see the Canadian Rockies or the New Zealand Alps in person, so I might change my mind when I get there, but until I do I’ll stick to my judgment. I will still come back to the Dolomites more often, …
The Best of Italy in Two Weeks, Part II
I recently had the pleasure of taking part as a guest pro in M&M Photography Tours’ Best of Italy photo tour. In the past two weeks this has led me, together with M&M’s founder Mike Gulbraa and some wonderful guests, to some of my favorite locations around my home country. We visited Venice, Burano, Florence, Pisa, Lucca, the Cinque Terre, the …
The Best of Italy in Two Weeks
I recently had the pleasure of taking part as a guest pro in M&M Photography Tours’ Best of Italy photo tour. In the past two weeks this has led me, together with M&M’s founder Mike Gulbraa and some wonderful guests, to some of my favorite locations around my home country. We visited Venice, Burano, Florence, Pisa, Lucca, the Cinque Terre, …
In The Lavender Fields Of Southern France
Provence, France. Even though I live relatively close to that part of the world and I’ve seen parts of it on numerous occasions, I never went there when the lavender is blooming and with the specific intent of photographing it. It’s one of those experiences that you know you can easily make, so you keep postponing it, thinking there will …
Photographing Western Crete: Rethymno
“The rain has stopped, the clouds have broken; the vault of blue spreads out like a fan, the blue decomposing into that ultimate violet light which makes everything Greek seem holy, natural and familiar. in Greece one has the desire to bathe in the sky. You want to rid yourself of your clothes, take a running leap and vault into …