SUNDAY MORNING, October 20. The dress code is vintage (and so are the bicycles), the spirits are high and at least 1,000 cyclists from...

THE LOCAL WEEKLY MARKETS in the magical medieval Tuscan town of Anghiari have been happening since 1388, according to the sign [possibly...

GOSPEL songs – earworms! – play in my head constantly now after two intense weeks of learning them with a choir touring Tuscany. We...

Maybe it was nostalgia that drove me to Perugia for a night recently. That, and a desire to see at least a little more of Italy before I...

IT IS SUNDAY night in Anghiari. The Processione della Madonna di Loreto emerges from the small Chiesa della Badia, with priests and...

I DIDN'T find Giorgio in Anghiari’s cimitero when I went looking for him. I like to visit this hushed and attractive place when I come to...

How could I have returned to Australia without seeing Lucca, about 200kms to the north-west of Anghiari? There is just no way. Not after...

In the ancient Tuscan hilltop town of Anghiari, population 5,000, you have the choice of at least six chapels or churches. With a car,...

Speaking my still rudimentary Italian, I stumble constantly, grateful to the very generous souls I encounter who continue to be so kind...

SITTING at an outdoor table on a balmy night, we're just finishing dinner on my last night in Anghiari when, at some obviously...

If you want to learn a language by the immersion method, as I am, the same rule applies as in learning to sing: Leave your dignity at the...

IF YOU HAVE never seen a… mature… German choir dressed in cowboy/girl outfits singing ‘She’ll be comin’ round the mountain’, in German…...

The enchanting view from my desk, ever changing.

THE gatti (cats) of Anghiari are languid, haughty and proprietorial. They condescend to being photographed frequently by the many...

APPARENTLY they were concerned about ‘being like fish’ (you know, going ‘off’ in three days), but my recent visitors from Oz arrived at...

In this exquisite medieval town in Italy, my apartment backs onto the school. Music is a big part of the school's life, indeed of the...

Weather’s crazy here right now. It’s a sunny blue-sky day with snow on them there hills. Two days ago it was as dark and stormy as a bad...

I had to make friends with Lorenzo. I had no choice. He looms there at my bedroom window, watches over me at night, keeps time like a...

You know how everything is wonderful and amazing in the travel blogs you read? Or on social media, with flawless pics? This is not that....

“Posso?” Giorgio, 82, crooks his left arm and offers it. (“May I?” he says.) “Si.” Dear fellow. I accept and together we venture slowly...