Welcome and Benvenuti to all my lovely followers around the World,
Now for all you lovely people who have never seen or eaten Wild Tuscan Asparagus, I thought I should take a foto before I madly start eating the stuff again! I love it! I spoke about it last week, so I won’t go on about it too much. But anyway, if you are in Tuscany and want to go on a hunt, this is what it looks like! Foto J Finnigan.
One of my other loves is of course Rock Music and these hills are full of great musicians, artists and other artisans. But what about this, a music studio in a restored fattoria in the Tuscan countryside! It’s a dream come true! It is owned and run by the American record producer Rick Rubin, who apparently costs a fortune to work with. His clients have included many top recording artists, some loved him, some didn’t. But anyway, his taste in locations cannot be faulted and if one is going to work in a music studio and can afford the fees…….!
One such artist who might consider this is the hugely popular Claudio Baglioni, who is currently on a massive Italian tour, performing with hardly a break, right up until the end of April! The Italians love this home-grown artist who is celebrating 50 years in pop/rock music!
Meanwhile, back in Fiano over coffee, I read an article about Montalbano. It is not surprising to hear that his TV episodes, books and other media outlets have exported 150% more than any other fictional series in Italy.
(A very unhappy film maker friend of my man, turned down the rights to this series before it went live!) I, for one, have read all the books, watched all the TV series including Young Montalbano and can’t wait to read or view more. The series has even been inspirational for my book The Italian Connection.
Now, what else? Oh yes, very important. A friend of mine who loves the Hunk of the Month series, nominated the gorgeous son of Andrea Boccelli. Have you seen him performing with his dad? Well you really should get hold of their recording release, Fall on Me, it’s absolutely beautiful. You Tube And here is a picture of Matteo; they say that Italy has some of the best looking men in the world, what do you think? Foto official website.
OK, time to get back to the day job. Am a little late with this blog, sorry about that, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.
Have a great week and do drop me a line, visit my website for all my contact details My Site
Salute June.
Fotos – all newspaper articles with fotos are extracted from La Reppublica.
OK, let’s get it over with. I know that many of you have seen enough snow to last a lifetime and have been dreaming about soaking up the Tuscan Sun. Unfortunately, here in our little bit of Chianti we were not to escape the same deluge of awful weather and it is hard to believe that our view from here just over a week ago looked and felt like Siberia! Now it is much warmer and raining, spring flowers are bursting through and when the first tourists start arriving at the beginning of April, they will find it difficult to imagine how cold and bleak it was in early March. Foto J Finnigan
Anyway, onwards and upwards and to remember just how lucky we are to have the Italian lifestyle of morning coffee and pastries and of course, beautiful handbags. ‘What has handbags got to do with lifestyle?’ I hear you ask. Well, everything actually. Without a beautiful Italian handbag over one’s arm or shoulder, a person would be improperly dressed, even in the local caffè bar!
OK, and so to Italian Fashion. In my last blog I promised to only post Italian fashion worn by happy models. So here for your delight, and mine too, is a beautiful outfit in my perfect colours. The great thing about the internet is that most of the designers can be accessed and purchased on-line these days. As much as I like to go to gorgeous Italian designer shops, time is of the essence. So for this beautiful outfit visit Dixie (pronounced Dixieh) at 
Dio, what to say, what to do about Italian Rugby? Our great team here in Italy has managed to lose six consecutive matches in the Six Nations. Sadly, the only newspaper foto was squeezed into the bottom right of La Nazione sporting pages and hardly noticeable. I do wonder if the lack of investment into the sport here makes a difference. Italy is so orientated towards Football (Calcio) and the children are encouraged to join local teams at an early age. Another interesting fact is that the schools here do not have their own sports fields; Children have to go to outside clubs in the evenings or at the weekend. Siena has a great rugby club where our grandson is playing with the under 18’s. However, the facilities are pretty dire and, for strength reasons, they have recently merged with Arrezzo, which has not proved too successful. But the players remain ever enthusiastic!
Don’t worry, I have not forgotten my hunk of the month. However, having decided to choose the great Sicilian detective, Montalbano, I was devastated to read that he actually gets married in his most recent series! No, I know that should not preclude him as Hunk of the Month, I was just a little bit shaken, that’s all. In fact, even my own heroine, Joanna Wilde, gets married in my latest book ‘The Italian Connection,’ which will not preclude her from continuing to have exciting new adventures!
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