In the heart of Rome's Jewish Ghetto, just opposite the Portico d'Ottavia and steps from the Teatro di Marcello, there is a staircase that leads down into history.

That staircase belongs to Leone Limentani Rome, one of the oldest family-run shops in the city — founded in 1820 and still operated by the same family, now in its seventh generation.

I first discovered Leone Limentani Rome decades ago when I lived on Via Giulia. I would walk along the Tiber and into the Ghetto, descend those stairs, and find myself in what felt like an Aladdin's cave of porcelain, crystal, and silver. Shelves stretched in every direction. Ginori plates. Limoges porcelain. Christofle cutlery. Baccarat crystal. Everything touchable. Everything real.

And that tactile immediacy is still part of what makes Leone Limentani Rome so special today.

Sitting among the ruins near the Terme di Caracalla, with ancient stones underfoot and Roman roads radiating outward beneath us, I spoke with Tom Brughmans, an archaeologist whose work is reshaping how we understand movement, connection, food, and daily life in the ancient Roman world.

Tom is the director of an ambitious international research project that has produced the first spatially detailed digital atlas of the Roman road system. Not just the famous roads, and not just Italy, but the entire Roman Empire—stretching across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. These are the roads people actually used, reconstructed through years of careful scholarship and made visible in a way that has never existed before.

Italian designers work quietly behind the scenes, shaping how leaders, artists, and thinkers present themselves to the world through style.

Rome has always been a city where power, culture, and aesthetics intersect. Politics meets art, ceremony meets daily life, and nowhere is that more visible than in the world of Italian designers who work quietly behind the scenes, shaping how leaders, artists, and thinkers present themselves to the world. One of the most remarkable of these is Sartoria Litrico, a Rome-based bespoke tailor now in its third generation and officially recognized as one of the city's historic artisans, by the Italian Ministry of National Historical Value.

Italian designers are not just stylists or trendsetters. At their best, they are observers of human nature, historians of the body, and translators of personality into fabric. Sartoria Litrico's story is not simply about suits—it is about how Italian craftsmanship shaped the visual language of the 20th century.

The wine world is changing—and if you're drinking the same way you did five years ago, you're missing something.

In this episode, we dive into the 2026 wine trends behind a quiet but powerful shift in how people drink today. Prestige labels and power wines are losing ground to lighter, fresher, more drinkable styles chosen for real life—not status. Heavy reds aren't disappearing, but they are being rethought, chilled, and replaced by wines that feel better at the table and easier to live with.

We explore why crisp whites now outsell reds, how chillable reds and "bistro wines" became mainstream, and why forgotten categories like Marsala, sweet wines, and everyday bubbles are making an unexpected return. You'll hear how climate change, health awareness, sustainability, and rising prices are reshaping taste—and why value hunting has gone global, from Southern Italy to Greece and Portugal.

This conversation also looks at low-ABV and no-ABV wines as part of intentional drinking rather than abstinence, and how celebrity influence and storytelling are changing the way people discover wine.

If your wine preferences have shifted—or you're curious why the rules suddenly feel different—this episode will explain what's really going on. Wine in 2026 is lighter, colder, more affordable, and more human.

This week's podcast episode is a re-release from two years ago, but the story it tells remains timeless. It explores the deep roots of Carnival in Verona, why gnocchi are inseparable from the celebration, what locals eat and drink during Carnival season, what else to see while you're in town, and how easy it is to pair Verona with a quick day trip to nearby Venice.

When people think of Verona, the first images are often Shakespearean: Romeo and Juliet, the small balcony in the historic center, and the romance that clings to the city's stones. Others think immediately of wine—Valpolicella, Amarone, Soave—some of the Veneto's most celebrated bottles produced just beyond the city.

But every winter, another identity takes center stage. Carnival in Verona transforms the city into a living expression of history, food, and neighborhood pride, and it does so earlier and longer than most Carnival celebrations in Italy.

Liguria Italy is often reduced to a handful of famous images: pastel houses clinging to cliffs, glamorous yachts bobbing in Portofino, hikers threading their way between the villages of the Cinque Terre. But as this conversation on my Flavor of Italy podcast reveals, Liguria Italy is far richer, deeper, and more nuanced than its postcard reputation suggests.

In this episode, I spoke with Anna Merulla, co-founder of Beautiful Liguria, a locally based travel company created to tell the story of Liguria Italy from the inside out. What emerges is a portrait of a region that rewards curiosity, slower travel, and a willingness to step beyond the obvious.

L'Aquila, Abruzzo — a place many people still don't seem to know about, but one that carries one of the most important cultural stories in Italy right now: this year the city holds the special title of Italy's 2026 Italian Capital of Culture!

Bologna food has a way of pulling people in quietly and then never quite letting go. It isn't flashy, it doesn't shout, and it doesn't rely on trends. Instead, Bologna food reveals itself through repetition: the rhythm of fresh pasta made by hand every morning, the clink of glasses in a neighborhood osteria, the steady hum of markets that have fed the city for centuries. That is exactly what emerged in my recent podcast conversation with Andrea Chierici, the founder of Taste Bologna.