Category Archives: Italy

Best restaurants in Florence based on my travel guide research

Researching the awesome “Florence Explorer 2.0” city guide app (UPDATE: sadly, now defunct) contractually required me to once again to sacrifice the bod and eat prodigious amounts of food during my recent visit. Since one of the guidelines was to put together an “author favorites” list, and since the app…

How to drink a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino

For most of us, drinking a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino is a special occasion on par with celebrating a birthday divisible by ten or being rear-ended by Donald Rumsfeld in front of a military hospital while 500 beered-up, wounded vets are attempting to set the world record for piñata…

The Pettersens take Tuscany

Members of the travel industry ritually self-harmed this week when it was announced that felonious halfwit Tommy Lee would soon be debuting his own travel show on the Syfy channel. In related news, travel TV producers on both coasts unanimously did not spit out their coffee upon hearing the breaking…

The best Tuscan restaurants from my Lonely Planet research trip

This is it folks. For the final post of Tuscany Month, celebrating the release of the totally redesigned 2010 Lonely Planet Tuscany & Umbria, I am listing, by my modest estimation, the best Tuscan restaurants. I’ve selected restaurants from the full budget range for various reasons that will be made…

The best hotels in Tuscany from my Lonely Planet research trip

The Tuscany Month countdown to the release of the totally redesigned 2010 Lonely Planet Tuscany & Umbria is nearing its end. I’ve been saving the best for last, including my carefully considered list of the best hotels in Tuscany (and pensions and agriturismi). As always, the caveats are: this list…

The highs and lows of chilled out Colle di Val d’Elsa, Tuscany

Welcome back to Tuscany Month, featuring another chunk of the Lost Tuscany Text, this time about Colle di Val d’Elsa, that didn’t make it into the totally redesigned 2010 Lonely Planet Tuscany & Umbria. Most visitors to Colle di Val d’Elsa are simply changing buses en route to Volterra. However,…

The best road trip in Tuscany from my Lonely Planet research trip

Today’s Tuscany Month excitement highlights my favorite scenic/interesting drive in the region. Probably my favorite new feature in the 2010 Lonely Planet Tuscany & Umbria are all the numerous driving tours we added. In some cases we just took a logical grouping of villages that were already listed in the…

Tuscan pit-stop – atmospheric and rewardin San Quirico d’Orcia

Welcome back to Tuscany Month, featuring another chunk of the Lost Tuscany Text, this time about San Quirico d’Orcia, that didn’t make it into the totally redesigned 2010 Lonely Planet Tuscany & Umbria. Although extremely atmospheric and featuring some good value eating and sleeping, San Quirico, by Tuscany standards, is…

The best cheap eats in Tuscany from my Lonely Planet research

Listing the best cheap eats in Tuscany might be my favorite Tuscany Month post. Having now completed two Tuscany guidebook projects for Lonely Planet, I’m feeling emboldened to share some authoritative opinions about the area. My biggest fixation is how one might enjoy a first-rate Tuscan experience without having to…

The curious case of Pope Pius II, author, narcissistic, but great pope

Welcome back to Tuscany Month, featuring another chunk of the Lost Tuscany Text, this time about Pope Pius II, that didn’t make it into the totally redesigned 2010 Lonely Planet Tuscany & Umbria. This text is from a pop-up box I wrote about Pius for the previous Tuscany & Umbria…

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