Category Archive

This article originally appeared in the Winter 2026 issue of Dream of Italy. It is no secret that one of my favorite activities in Italy is to “take the water,” the old-fashioned way of saying I’m visiting one of Italy’s many relaxing and medicinal thermal hot springs. In tiny Bagno Vignoni, set in Tuscany’s almost otherworldly beautiful Val d’Orcia, everything, …

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of Dream of Italy. Find the main article here. Moi Omakase chef/owner Francesco Preite, 42 years young, has visited Japan a staggering 75 times to hone the craft. The results: an incredibly authentic slice of Japan in Tuscany. Kevin Raub: When and how did your interest (ahem…obsession) with Japanese cuisine and …

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of Dream of Italy. Find the main article here. A bit of an up-and-coming wild card, Il Ginepraio Ristorante (agriturismovitanova.com; tasting menus 55–75€) is well off the trodden path in Tuscany’s Mugello hills—revered for their non-touristy authenticity—30 miles or so northeast of Florence. Here, brothers Lorenzo and Simone Boni resurrected their grandfather’s …

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of Dream of Italy. Find the main article here. Whenever someone asks about living in Italy, I always emphasize a strongly held belief: “The best thing about living in Italy is the food; however, the worst thing about living in Italy is also the food.” You’re golden with homegrown cuisine, but …

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of Dream of Italy.  There is wine…then there is Brunello di Montalcino. Wine lovers from around the world come to this slice of Paradise in the Val d’Orcia, not just for the vintages but for the scenery: gentle rolling hills in the shadow of Monte Amiata. The boutique hotel Mastrojanni Relais …

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2025 issue of Dream of Italy. The highway from Bologna, where I live, to Tuscany, where I’ll never argue about going, mostly conceals the landscape transition between the two regions — a seemingly endless arsenal of tunnels unravels along the A1 motorway, hiding the dramatic difference in scenery along the 72-mile route. It’s …

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2025 issue of Dream of Italy. It was the trees, a verdant forest of pines, that initially brought me here. The Sense Experience Resort sits on Tuscany’s Maremma coast covered in towering, ancient umbrella pines. Here at the Sense, they form a towering natural cathedral of sorts at the center of the 12-acre …

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2025 issue of Dream of Italy. Find the main Splurge Stays article here. If I won the lottery, Monteverdi Tuscany is the kind of property I would create. It’s not just a hotel, but also a meeting place for improving the body, mind, soul and stomach. Owner and Italian-American lawyer Michael Cioffi—who I profiled in my book …