It’s hard to encapsulate the essence of a place in a single phrase. There are too many layers and complexities, flavours and voices, volumes and colours. But when I think of my latest trip to Florence, “the devil is in the details” comes to mind. I was caught up in a whirlwind of self-inflicted (and […]
Meredith is back from a few weeks on research in Italy, with tales of a missed flight, loose knees, and pure flexibility. The world has changed, and we with it – the tempo is different, and in this makeshift podcast we try to capture a feeling, that thing we all chase when we leave our […]
The church of Santa Croce is one of those monuments that never ceases to amaze me, no matter how many times I visit; and truth be told, I plan on spending some time there each time I’m in Florence. There are so many reasons as to why it keeps luring me back: for one, this […]
Nowadays, Negroni is one of the most popular Italian aperitifs in the world, but its origin is steeped in legend. According to tradition, Count Camillo Negroni invented it in Florence in 1919, when he asked the bartender at his usual watering hole (Caffè Casoni in Via de’ Tornabuoni 83, now closed) to fortify his Americano […]
48.8 million hectolitres of wine…now that’s what I call a buzz-inducing bumper crop. In case you haven’t heard: in 2015 Italy surpassed France as the world’s largest wine producer. Mon Dieu! What’s one to do upon hearing such historic news? Well, obviously, you embark immediately on a celebratory road-trip deep into the Chianti, to get […]
Digging up fresh Trufflepig dirt often takes me from my Tuscan mountaintop to Rome, down the coastal Aurelia road (whose condition has not improved much since it was built by the Roman censor Aurelius Cotta in the third century BC). Whenever possible, I make a small detour to the Tarot Garden, the astonishing sculpture park […]
I love fire. I love to watch things burn, especially large, highly flammable things. Effigy is one of my all-time favourite English words, and the burning of effigies is one of my favourite pastimes. And I love processions. So after dinner last night, I drove down the hill to the town of Pitigliano, in the […]
My travel bucket list is so extensive that I don’t think I’ll be able to complete it in my own lifetime. That’s what happens when you work in travel. Going back to a place I have already been, then, triggers an upset little voice in my head. “But… we could be seeing one of the […]
It’s hard to swing a bottle of Brunello in Tuscany without hitting a villa. Some are new, some old. Some private, some open to the public. Most of them are nice to gorgeous, so picking a favourite is like choosing between a Ferrari and a Lamborghini. As far as old, private, and gorgeous villas go, […]
Some suggest that pizza originated in China. Others say Greece. Others still, say the Punjab. Perhaps they’re all right, but I’m going to go with Italy on this one. Even if they didn’t invent the dough wheel, they unquestionably made it great. Where: Some little town near Siena, Italy What: Pizza. Plain, simple, and outrageously delicious. Even […]
As if being perhaps the most photogenic valley in Tuscany were not enough, for good measure the Val d’Orcia packs a knockout foodie punch: Vino Nobile wine and pecorino di Pienza cheese. The Val d’Orcia is the quintessential Tuscan landscape: wide open skies, rolling hills lined with immaculate cypress trees, swaying fields of grain elegantly […]
No matter how nice, polite, and evolved we think we are, it’s in our nature to want the best experiences for ourselves. When we get them, sometimes we even stoop to our baser instincts and brag. Today, we have some fine bragging rights to offer you. At Trufflepig we are the kings and queens of […]
If you like to think about food as much as you like to cook it, eat it, grow it, discuss it, find it, dig it up, hunt it, forage for it, bottle it, ferment it or even shoot it, read on: we have the trip for you. La Petraia is a bio-dynamic field-to-fork agriturismo high up […]
Halfway to the sea from Montalcino, where Tuscany gets a little wilder and a little less visited, the Castello di Vicarello is tucked away at the end of a country lane, and is as good as any small hotel we’ve ever visited. With four suites and one villa, it’s a small, personal place. The thousand […]