I never thought it would be possible to have a favourite stone, but this one is mine. We encounter it every day when we go for a walk along the millstream and through the bamboo forest beside the river. The stone stands beside the path just above the boca, the archway which marks the beginning […]
An even more compelling reason to visit the Watermill: Uffizi Gallery paintings are coming to the nearby town of Fivizzano (we hope!)
The Mayor of Fivizzano, the walled mediaeval town near the Watermill, where we go for an introductory dinner in the main square the first Saturday of our creative courses and to visit the weekly market on Tuesdays, has written to the director of the world-famous Uffizi gallery in Florence, saying “we are ready when you […]
Are you dressed like an onion in this doggy weather? And watching out for the basins?
In this wintry weather, in the northern hemisphere at least, this blog from 2017, which I unearthed in my clear out, is very apposite today: The picture above was painted en plein air above Florence yesterday by our friend Tom Byrne. He says: “My head is beginning to thaw out. It’s really cold although there’s no snow. […]
Why Italian hotels don’t have a Room 17 (or a 17th floor). Mere heptadecaphobia!
Continuing my series of Blogs Revisited, stories from the past unearthed during my recent clear out, I thought it was appropriate to republish this one today, 17 February: Have you ever noticed that Italian hotels never have a 17th floor. (Yes, I know, most of them don’t go that high, but when they do, they […]
Interesting blogs revisited: What Brunelleschi and Caillebotte have in common
Continuing our series of old and interesting blogs discovered during my clean-up, today I’d like to re-introduce you to my contention that had Gustave Caillebotte had a more easily pronounceable name, he would have been much better known. How easy it was to remember the names of the other Impressionists like Monet, Dégas and Renoir. […]
Interesting blogs revisited: Why is an Italian bottle a theatrical disaster?
Our fantastic Webmaster, Les van Jaarsveldt, is busy updating and revamping the Watermill’s blog pages and he asked me to tidy up our old blogs, eliminating those we no longer need, and also expunging lots of old pictures. In the process I came across some fascinating old blogs which I thought were too good to […]
More Italian tips for daily well-being: get out and about and change your coffee-drinking habits
Today is the last in our series on 10 Italian lifestyle habits that add to the quality of daily living, based on suggestions from Patrick Browne in The Local, our Italian English-language newspaper. The first is rather difficult to achieve in these restricted times; and in the UK and the USA at least, the paucity […]
Touchy-feely and proud: learning more from the Italians about healthy living.
Continuing our series on 10 Italian lifestyle habits that add to the quality of daily living, we are looking today at two more suggestions from Patrick Browne in The Local, our Italian English-language newspaper. They are rather disparate topics, the first of which is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve in .)these restricted times: Habit […]
An array of bruschette, colourful and tasty Italian snacks
This colourful, mouth-watering picture is of bruschette, tasty Italian snacks that can be served as aperitivi or as a first course to an evening meal. (We enjoyed some of them last night when two friends came round to dinner, keeping up the Italian tradition of eating together and enjoying convivial company, sadly curtailed in present […]
Learning more from the Italians about healthy living.
Continuing our series on 10 Italian lifestyle habits that add to the quality of daily living, we are looking today at two more suggestions from Patrick Browne in The Local, our Italian English-language newspaper. Habit #5 is Drink less alcohol. One of the striking things in life in Italy is how little the Italian drink, […]