Travel

Arancino? or Arancina?

7th November 2025
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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…

Daughters of the Etna soil

5th November 2025
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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…

Nobu. What Three Words?

17th July 2025
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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…

Why go on a Writing Retreat?

16th July 2025
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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…

Fighting Fascism & Britain’s ‘Divide and Rule’

28th September 2022
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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/

Discover Australia

2nd February 2020
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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…

Federico Fellini

29th January 2020
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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…

Parma

28th January 2020
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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…

Food & Chianti under the Tuscan Sun

9th December 2019
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Swoon over Chianti’s rolling hills covered in serried vines and bordered by pencil-thin Cypress trees. Explore exquisite medieval walled villages, and luxuriate in ancient spas, then release your inner gourmand with fine Tuscan DOP food and wine. A tip: when eating out or buying produce, look for the DOP (denominazione di origine protetta) label. Only…

Italian Heritage Foods – Tuscany DOP

2nd December 2019
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Tuscany’s DOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta) is the ‘protected status’ label applied to Pecorino cheese, Prosciutto ham and Chianti olive oil. The DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) and DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) labels are applied to wine, and are intrinsic to Italian heritage food and wine. In ‘Food Heroes‘, Georgia Pellegrini explores…