Articles by Christine Webb

Lucca has a glow that comes with being just right. Not too big or small, not too crowded with tourists but just the right amount of fabulous art that…
The first time I saw the strange landscape of Le Balze was from a train speeding between Arezzo and Florence. The InterCity Express leaves the roads b…
Since living in Italy I have become obsessed with any type of medieval game – Palio, Giostra or Balestra. The minute I hear the thump, thump of the dr…
Perugia, capital of Umbria in central Italy, lies sprawled high over the Tiber Valley like a prickly limpet, immovable, seemingly impenetrable and unc…
Words by Christine WebbIt's the drums that got me first... boom! da-boom! boom! ....distant, like thunder, pounding along with my racing heart as Itri…
Any people only have a day to ‘do’ Florence and practically die in the attempt like some sacred rite of passage. Over a couple of years I developed a…
Arezzo is often mistakenly overlooked on the tourist trail because its piazza and Palio are second to Siena’s, its art and antiquities are not as gran…
One of the hardest cities in Italy to get a handle on is Rome. Sprawling, confusing and without a centre, Rome’s history cover shelves of book space t…
Words and Images by Christine Webb As promised, here's the second part of the guide to maiolica museums, workshops and potteries in Italy. Did you mis…
Words and Images by Christine WebbCeramica is the Italian word most commonly used to describe pottery. Objects that have been made by firing clay have…
Pictures and images by Christine Webb‘One of Umbria’s most beautiful hill towns’ is probably the only generalisation one can make about Gubbio. It is…
Words and Pictures by Christine WebbYears ago, while staying near the Amalfi coast, I saw four heavy men in sateen suits emerge from a large black car.…
Hidden away in the Appennine mountains, Urbino is a jewel of Renaissance art and architecture in Le Marche that you can reach by car or by bus from Um…
Words and Pictures by Christine WebbAbout 5,500 of the 8,100 comuni in Italy have a street, road, lane or piazza carrying the name Garibaldi. All ove…
words by Christine WebbFor art lovers, pilgrims and historians, the name of Ravenna is synonymous with the greatest Byzantine mosaics of the early Chr…
The Italian piazza, the very core of the community, the key to understand local life. Christine Webb provides an introduction.Pictures by Christine We…