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 Lemon Is Not Round
The Lemon Is Not Round
Everyone draws the Amalfi lemon as a yellow circle. Its name says otherwise, and so does the thing itself. Read more...
The Jellyfish, and Why We Embroidered One
The Jellyfish, and Why We Embroidered One
Amalfi is always photographed from the terrace, looking out. This motif comes from the other direction.   Read more...
Fourteen Shades of Red - The Coral
Fourteen Shades of Red - The Coral
Hardly anyone would believe there are more than three grades of red, wrote a naturalist visiting Livorno in the 1740s. He was then shown fourteen. Read more...
The Traditional Alpine Interior, the Way Cortina Actually Does It
The Traditional Alpine Interior, the Way Cortina Actually Does It
Search for alpine chic and you get antlers and plaid. Then go to Cortina and look at the houses that actually work. They do the opposite, and always have.   Read more...
Four Inches Below the Knee
Four Inches Below the Knee
Before the 1930s nobody bought clothes for skiing. By the mid-1940s the trousers had changed shape for good. The window in between is what these two motifs are wearing. Read more...
The Rules That Kept the Valley Whole
The Rules That Kept the Valley Whole
In the fourteenth century the Regole closed whole forests to cutting and grazing for years at a time. The landscape that looks untouched is the result of decisions.   Read more...
The Moment Before It Moves
The Moment Before It Moves
The reserve that saved the ibex paid a bounty for every fox killed. One of them needed a king and a century to come back. The other never left Read more...
The Animal That Returned to the Rock
The Animal That Returned to the Rock
In 1965 eight ibex were released in the Dolomites. One pair walked away, crossed two mountain groups, and founded the colony still standing above Cortina.   Read more...
Aperitivo, Back Inside
Aperitivo, Back Inside
Après-ski faces backwards, toward the slope. Aperitivo faces the other way. The Italian hour between the last run and dinner, and what a table is for once people start using... Read more...
The Mountain Does Not Need to Be Added
The Mountain Does Not Need to Be Added
Antlers on the wall, skis over the door, checks on every cushion. The houses in Cortina that convince you do the opposite, and they always have. Read more...
The Flower Closest to the Rock
The Flower Closest to the Rock
The emblem of the Alps did not come from the Alps. It arrived from the deserts of Central Asia during the ice ages, wearing a coat built to survive drought. Read more...
Before the Chairlift
Before the Chairlift
In 1925 a cable car saved you an hour of walking. In 1936 a sledge carried fifteen people up through the snow. Then came a single chair, and one skier... Read more...