Carolyn Travers, a landscape designer, horticulturist and walking guide, moved from Australia to the mountains around Pescia to restore a 200-year-old farmhouse.
The allure of Tuscany never wanes. But my little slice of the region is a bit different from the rest. Lush and green. It’s hilly. There are grapevines and garden vegetables planted randomly on little plots of land: it all feels less “manicured” than much of the typical landscape. Chestnut- and oak-tree forests provide […]
Still-green fields, ripe persimmons hanging off bare branches, avenues of leafless trees with gnarly bark, crisp scents detectable in the cold, white and yellow bulbs poking through woodlands: this is winter in Tuscany.
Tuscany is home to many magnificent gardens, and winter is a wonderful time to visit them.
Walking a 400-kilometer stretch of the Via Francigena from Lucca to St. Peter’s Basilica was a challenge but a joy, bringing unexpected healing and renewed strength along the way. The ancient pilgrim route of Via Francigena starts in Canterbury, England, winds through France, Switzerland and Italy to the Vatican City. Whereas pilgrims once […]