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In Search of Jane Loddiges’ Great, Great, Great Grand-daughter Have you ever wondered about the significance of the two exotic palm trees outside Hackney’s Town Hall on Mare Street? Or have you walked along, or crossed, Loddiges Road, just off Mare Street, without knowing that it was named after a certain ‘Conrad Loddiges’ who built…
Or, ‘What’s in a name?’ by Kate FuscoeNOVEMBER 2025 The Diavolo is in the Detail There’s a moment when you discover that details are important. In wine-making, they’re essential. But, apparently, elsewhere too. I was a guest of Etna Days – the 4th edition of an event that promotes and celebrates winemaking in the Etna…
Wine, Women, and… Willpower by Kate Fuscoe November 2025 ‘A Fimmina‘ Sicily’s Mount Etna – A Muntagna (or A Fimmina, in local dialect) – is female. Maybe it’s because ‘Mamma Etna’ provides wonderfully fertile land, thanks to her rich, volcanic soil, or maybe it’s because there’s an ever-present threat of her erupting. Wine, women… Italian…
Interview with Nobuyuki ‘Nobu’ Matsuhisa at the Cala Di Volpe, Sardinia When Nobu arrives at the Cala di Volpe in Sardinia, it’s an event. Hotel Cala di Volpe is one of the most famous hotels in the world. It was founded back in 1962 by His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV. The Prince (who…
The Four ‘C’s – Confidence, Creativity, Camaraderie, Continue… When I was presented with the opportunity to attend a writing retreat in Abruzzo, Italy, I jumped at it. I had already contributed to an anthology with fellow writers from the creative writing courses I’d completed during lockdown (with the Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education). And I…
The story of Balwinder Singh Rana, an Indian activist who has been fighting racism and structural attempts at division in Britain for decades. Read my article for the Byline Times here. And for more on the ‘Brick Lane Project’, here’s an article about Barbara Beese and the Mangrove Nine https://bylinetimes.com/2020/09/29/the-woman-with-the-afro-the-story-of-barbara-beese/
In 2020, it will be 250 years since Australia was ‘discovered’ by Captain James Cook. We now know that the land mass was already inhabited with more than 500 Aboriginal tribes. In fact, humans had been here for more than 60,000 years. The First Nations have a tradition of using fire to burn vegetation. Known…
Film director, Federico Fellini, created such masterpieces as La Dolce Vita (winner of the Palme d’Or in 1960), and 8½ (listed by Sight & Sound as the 10th greatest film of all time). And four of Fellini’s films appear in the BBC Culture’s poll to discover the 100 most popular foreign-language films. Fellini Museum In 2020, Rimini celebrated 100 years…
Capital of Culture Parma is the Italian Capital of Culture in 2020. Throughout the year, events will be held all around the university city in Italy’s Emilia Romagna region. Happy as a pig… Tastebuds should be tingling as soon as you arrive in the ‘Food Valley’ where the pig (il porco) is king. Who hasn’t…
Cooking Science and the Art of Eating Well In La Scienza in Cucina e l’Arte di Mangier Bene (1891), Pellegrino Artusi considered the scientific role of food in well-being. Was his interest sparked by a near-fatal visit to Livorno in 1855? After eating a bowl of ‘minestrone’, Artusi suffered terrible stomach pains. Days later he discovered…