Shooting Stars, Saracens and Pizza: Events in Italy This Summer

Our fr*ee online calendar of events is back and filled with tantalizing festivals, concerts and celebrations taking place this summer and fall in Italy. Here are some highlights: Donnafugata (Sicily): Calici di Stelle (Goblets of Stars) August 10, 2008 Italians throughout the land celebrate Notte di San Lorenzo (celebrating San Lorenzo on August 10th) outside, under the stars. It is …

Your Brunello di Montalcino Has Been Spared!

To all those friends of Brunello di Montalcino – you may not have known it, but while you innocently sipped at your favorite Tuscan red, the future of your wine was under attack. U.S. authorities had threatened for the last few weeks to ban imports of the red wine Brunello di Montalcino (Brunello being the Sangiovese varietal grape, and Montalcino …

Why Do Sardinians Live So Long?

On my visit to Sardinia, I had the opportunity to visit a wonderful vineyard – Argiolas, a few miles outside of the capital of Cagliari. The wines were spectacular and I was happy to find out that there are exported to the U.S. and available from the distributor Winebow. But the highlight of the visit was meeting 101-year-old Antonio Argiolas, …

Italian Wine Harvest Off to Early Start

This summer’s heat wave across Italy hasn’t just been a hundrance to summer travel but could wreak serious havoc with travelers hoping to be in Italy for this year’s wine harvest. The hot weather is forcing Italy’s earliest harvest in decades, and some say decades. “I haven’t heard of such an early harvest since the Council of Trent of 1563,” …