Europe
13 May
Bayonne, Pays Basque
6 May
This photo was taken from the terrace of the Hassler in Rome. Not only is it one of the best-run hotels in Rome, it also has the enviable position to sit at the top of the Spanish Steps and look out over the city. For a less expensive option, the Hassler also has Il Palazetto, with four lovely rooms right on the steps that can access all of the...
2 May
Willing Foot, the “exclusive, entirely innovative way to experience any destination” (Maria Schollenbarger) offers a one-day itinerary into the timeless landscapes around Florence to sample some of the tasty produce of three purveyors who also happen to be good Willing Foot friends. In the company of Oliva, born and bred in Florence, you...
3 Mar
In celebration of its launch, Lisa Lindblad’s Willing Foot has announced the winner of its inaugural contest. Averell has won a three-day trip to Capri, one of Lisa’s favorite – and perhaps the most romantic – island in the world. With a history that dates back to early Roman times yet sweeps through the centuries with a...
6 Feb
A glimpse of irresistible Paris, through the window, through the mind’s eye. Architecture first, then art, food, light next.It is often said that there is little need for guidance in a city, for another’s insight. Not true. We have extraordinary friends who can give you, in an intimate and anecdotal way, a Paris you have only read about....
26 Dec
There is a Corsican saying: “If you live in Corsica, when you die and go to Paradise, you will be disappointed.” Black and green schist, red and white granite, snowcapped peaks, mountain slopes dense with pines, ancient olives and tangled bush, marine-rich turquoise water. An infinity of bays. The Greeks called it Kalliste, “the most beautiful.”
15 Dec
Glancing at my neighbor’s newspaper, Corse Matin, on my flight from Nice to Calvi, I read the banner “Trois morts en Haut Corse” – ‘Three dead in Haut Corse.” I smiled inwardly and thought of my Mother who, if she knew, would be saying, “Why does Lisa always have to go to these places?” They say there are more murders per capita...
13 Dec
The Greeks called it Kalliste, “the most beautiful.” The 400,000 who live on Corsica swell to 2 million in the summer season. But even with this five-fold increase, the island is spare and feels huge and empty. Out of season one can drive for miles on the winding roads and encounter only a goat, a wild boar. Swimming off Cap Corse...
12 Dec
There is a saying, “If you live in Corsica, when you die and go to Paradise, you will be disappointed.” At 180 kilometers long and 80 kilometers wide, with three geological zones that take you from the black and green schists of the Maritime Alps, through gorgeous orange granites peaking and folding in sculptural magnificence, to the white...
7 Dec
It’s nice to know the right people and, most importantly, the nice people. I am in Cannes at travel meetings and, because of their kindness and thanks to Mario Leon of MJL Select and Richard Duvauchelle, General Manager of Hotel Palais Stephanie, I have rediscovered glamour. A pace or two from the meeting venue, I am staying in a 4-story (above...
7 Nov
Let me start by saying, as Cathryn Collins, a friend of mine and the writer, producer and director of Vlast (Power) said at the LAFest where her film on Khordorkovsky was screened, “I don’t know if he’s guilty or innocent…but …if this can happen to him, it can happen to anybody.” It is common knowledge what has transpired...
26 Sep
The Grande Dame of Florence’s hotels is the Villa San Michele, located a short ten minute drive from the city center on the lush hillside of Fiesole. The original building was a monastery, founded in the 15th century by the Franciscan monks. The lush gardens and woodlands were donated by a wealthy Florentine family, creating a setting that...
26 Sep
Dario Cecchini is a real character; he is also an inspired cook who, for the last 35 years, has run his tiny butchery near Greve and then two restaurants, Mac Dario and Solociccia (ciccia being the Florentine word for meat). The first is a take-off on MacDonald’s and the second is his more “fine dining” table. His food, centered...
25 Sep
My day started 30 minutes from Perugia in Umbria, that less-known sister of Tuscany, the one that is a little more withdrawn, that carries her secrets quietly. With no access to the sea, Umbria is a region of wooded hills and steeper valleys; it is no wonder that she has produced so many mystics, saints and contemplatives. Palazzo Terranova is a...
23 Sep
Perhaps it is only with age that one begins to truly appreciate texture. Be it the removal of surface layers to reveal the original, as in pentimento, or the overlaying of one color and shape upon another as in collage, the beauty, I think, comes from the textural imperfections and the serendipity of the resulting look. So, too, with people and the...
21 Sep
I first went to Capri when I was 6. A family friend lived on Via Tuoro, and we rented a modest house just above the Marina Piccola from Laetizia Palumbo, a hairdresser on Via Tragara. When I returned two years later, my mother insisted that my sister and I had some kind of occupation in the afternoons; I, at 8, was taken on by Signora Consentino,...
20 Sep
In 1902, one Otto Bierbaum, midway through his Grand Tour to Italy’s South, wrote, “A hotel, that is not a hotel, but offers every comfort, this is something rare.” His letter continues, “Cocumella, the erstwhile Jesuit cloister, is truly a poets’ inn, where the friend of peace and beauty feels safe…” Yes,...
19 Sep
The towns and villages of the Amalfi Coast are strung like beads along one of the most remarkable chains in the world – the Amalfi Drive. Built in the last 70 years (some say by American GIs during World War II but no need to bring the Americans in to it; Italian road builders are renowned for their prowess, examples of which can be seen as...
18 Sep
Caesar Augustus made his painful way toward the island of Capri, comforted by the sea air and the familiar shape of this coastline he knew and loved so well. Capri was where he hoped to die, but he did not make it. This region is ancient, timeless. The world moves on, traveling populations heave and spread themselves like an amoeba across the...
14 Sep
On Thursday I will be leaving on a ten-day whirlwind trip to Italy, a country I know well. My Father’s sister married a Sienese. We had the great fortune of spending our summers in the family houses outside of Siena and in Florence, and a couple of summers, so many years ago, we rented a home in Porto Ercole (long before Il Pellicano) and...
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