French historian Jules Michelet used to begin his lectures on British history, with the seemingly unnecessary proclamation, “Messieurs, l’Angleterre est une ile.” “You guys, England is an island.” Obvious certainly, but it sure clarifies all that...

When it comes to wine, Sicily is what the grownups might’ve called a ‘cheat code’, back when they were kids. The largest island in the Mediterranean is home to 135,000 hectares of vineyards – more...

Tuscany may draw more tourists, but Emilia-Romagna, its neighbor to the north, mounts a mosaic of Italian cultural splendor everywhere you look. Stretching across north-central Italy, from the southeastern tip of Piedmont to the Adriatic...

TOSCANA Of all the convoluted, impenetrable, byzantine, clarity-hostile, sense-taunting barriers to understanding that the wine world tends to construct, the whole ‘Montepulciano’ pre-fab may be the most gratuitously unhelpful. Years ago, it even almost derailed...

LIGURIA  Though arguably most associated with France, the Riviera - as concept, aspiration, and actuality - originates in Liguria, in northwestern Italy. The word itself is Italian for “coastline,” and was first applied to the...