Wild strawberries. Simple and sublime.

Mouth watering wild strawberries in fresh cream.  True Italian style.  This simple and the sublime dish was served up to me at Trattoria Sostanza,  Il Troia as it’s often called,  after I dined on a decadent dish of baked chicken smothered in butter.  The concierge at my hotel assured me this place was easy to…

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Montefioralle. In the beginning.

Beautiful Montefioralle.  This quiet and quaint little village is in the Chianti region of Tuscany. There are those that claim is the birthplace of Amerigo Vespucci. (And we all know who this was, right?)  In May 2012 we stopped for a walking tour. It felt somewhat eery as there were NO people.  Maybe they were…

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Italy: Storybook Land and Dante’s Inferno

This is the amazing view from Castello di Monteriggioni in Toscana.  As the sun set after a long day of touring, wining and tasting we settled in at the Fattoria, Castello di Monteriggioni near Siena. Before dinner we walked all around this little town where there are no autos allowed.  Built in the early 1200’s,…

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Fancy a little wild boar?

This is Osteria Del  Cinghiale Bianco, the restaurant in the Oltrarno district in Florence where we ate before heading over to the Arno to take pictures. It looks like so many other restaurants throughout the area.  When we got there, we were very early by Italian standards – around 6:00pm.  They grudgingly gave us a…

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Sunset, the Arno and Me.

Sunset on the beautiful Arno river in Firenze in May 2012.  On one of our the last nights of our tour in Tuscany we headed across the bridge to the Oltrarno district and had a quick dinner at Osteria del Cinghiale Bianco, which was quite good.  We made it a quick dinner because we wanted…

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Somewhere in Tuscany. Doing what I love.

Tuscany has to be one of the best photographic experiences.  I would say “the best” but  cooking ranks up there somewhere, right?  So grab your camera and your plane ticket, Tuscany awaits you!  If you are looking for tour recommendations, check the main page of my website,  http://www.italyandme.com  I have some links to different tours…

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Lock away your heart. In Italy.

Beautiful locks of love found on the Via dell’Amore in Cinque Terre, a beautiful pathway that hangs on the cliffs of the Liguran coastline and connects the two towns of Riomaggiore and Manarola.  I took this picture in May of 2012.