Journal

Stories of Italian living, the art of the table, and the places behind MI RE LA

All What We Make Your Table The Collections Caring for Linen Hosting Trunk Shows Who We Are
The Year There Are Twelve
The Year There Are Twelve
You bought for eight, because eight is what the table seats when nobody is traveling. Then the number changed. Read more...
The Gift People Rarely Think Of
The Gift People Rarely Think Of
You have already brought wine twice this year. Four embroidered cocktail napkins and a small linen basket are the gift nobody else thinks of. Read more...
Where Does the Bread Go?
Where Does the Bread Go?
The basket arrives. You take a roll. Then you are holding a piece of bread and there is nowhere to put it down. Read more...
The Tree Has Already Said What Day It Is
The Tree Has Already Said What Day It Is
A mantelpiece is something to look at. A dining table is something to look across. That is the whole difference, and it holds in December as it does in June. Read more...
For the House That Is Already Finished
For the House That Is Already Finished
The hardest person to buy for is the one who has already chosen everything. The table is the one surface still open. Read more...
How Many Cocktail Napkins Do You Actually Need?
How Many Cocktail Napkins Do You Actually Need?
The number usually quoted was written for paper. Linen is counted differently. Read more...
A dining table set for Thanksgiving with embroidered linen placemats and napkins, the serving dishes waiting on a sideboard behind it
Everything Arrives at Once
Most dinners come to the table in order. Thanksgiving comes all together, on a table that was never measured for it. Read more...
A table after a long lunch, plates pushed back and chairs left where people rose from them
Italy Gave the World Dolce Far Niente. Now It Struggles to Protect It.
Every few months another article explains that Italians have mastered doing nothing. The Italian statistical office publishes numbers that suggest otherwise. Read more...
Everyone at Your Table Learned Different Rules
Everyone at Your Table Learned Different Rules
Most etiquette writing tells you how to behave abroad. Much less is written for the person opening the door at home. Read more...
The Table Is Set. Nobody Is Sitting There.
The Table Is Set. Nobody Is Sitting There.
You set the dining table. Two hours later the room is exactly as you left it, and everybody is standing around the kitchen island. Read more...
Nobody Agrees About the Napkin
Nobody Agrees About the Napkin
A napkin looks like the least controversial object on a table. Then somebody stands up mid-meal, and a question appears that has no settled answer anywhere. Read more...
held in one hand with a linen cocktail napkin between the palm and the glass MI RE LA
Hold With the Left, Toast With the Right
Italian etiquette says hold the glass in your left hand. It also says toast with your right. The napkin is what makes the handover work. Read more...