PERFECTION IN NATURE

«The landscape is always a testimony of the qualities of social order and a society that doesn’t respect nature doesn’t respect humanity either.»
- Pietro Porcinai

A FLORENTINE HIDEOUT

«Through these old streets I wander dreamily; around me Florence sweeps her busy tide of life»
- William Leighton

A FABULOUS PLACE

«If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost [...]. Now put the foundations under them.»
- Henry D. Thoreau

A UNIQUE REGION

«From the higher ground one can admire outwardly beautiful landcapes, silvery green valleys and hills descending towards the plain with towers, bell towers, basilicas, monasteries...»
- Guido Piovene

A VIEW TO DIE FOR

«A lake is a landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth's eye, looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.»
- Henry David Thoreau

THE ETRUSCAN LAND

«Chianti, like the rising sun, possession gains, and drives the mist of dullness from the brains. The gloomy vapor from the spirit flies, and views of gaiety and gladness rise.»
- Peter Lamberg

THE LAND OF WONDERS

«Tuscany is a land that since old ages has seduced visitors and bewitched its own inhabitants, to the point that many artists praised its beauties.»
- Ilaria Giannini

FLORENTINE BEAUTY

«There is nothing fundamental to be found in art after Phidias and Raffaello, but there is always something to do, even after them, to preserve the cult of truth and perpetuate the tradition of beauty.»
- Jean-Auguste D. Ingres

IN THE HEART OF VAL D'ORCIA

«Age is just a number. It’s irrelevant unless, of course, you happen to be a bottle of wine.»
- Joan Collins

A CASTLE ON THE LAKES

«If you have built castles in the air, your work needs not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.»
- Henry D. Thoreau

A PLACE FOR HAPPINESS

«Everything here emanates greatness, taste, humanity, purity and beauty at the utmost degree. I do believe I would be happier here than in any other place.»
- Klemens von Metternich

FROM THE ASHES

«Every great building once begun as a building plan. That means, sitting in that building plan on the table is a mighty structure not yet seen. It is the same with dreams.»
- Israelmore Ayivor

HEAVEN ON EARTH

«They say that when Judgement day comes, the people of Amalfi will have no change in life, for they are already living in paradise...»
- Melissa Hill

POSITANO DREAMING

«Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn't quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone.»
- John Steinbeck

THE PROMISED LAND

«Tuscany was the only country in the world to be “home”: the rest of Italy, and France, England, Spain, Germany, they were republics, kingdoms, empires, but not “homes”.»
- Curzio Malaparte

EARTH'S EYE

«A lake is a landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.»
- Henry David Thoreau

A TERRACE OVER FLORENCE

«Among all the foreign cities, Florence is the one I prefer. The longer you live here, the more you find yourself loving it. There is something so welcoming here that I feel like I were home.»
- Pëtr Il'ič Čajkovskij

THE FASHION CAPITAL

«Yes, Milan is really beautiful, my friend, and believe me when I say that sometimes you really need a strong will to resist its seduction and carry on with your work.»
- Giovanni Verga

IN THE SHADOW OF THE DOME

«And when I thought of Florence, it was like a miracle city embalmed and like a corolla, because it was called the city of lilies and its cathedral, St. Mary of the Flowers.»
- Marcel Proust

A TERRACE IN VENICE

«At the break of dawn, stars are filled with envy when they see the beauties of Venice emerging from the mist.»
- Mieczysław Kozłowski

CITY OF CANALS

«Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it, or perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little.»
- Italo Calvino

MODERN HOME FOR MODERN WORLD

«There is no doubt that the Modern World, by freeing the man, led subjectivism and individualism to triumph.»
- Martin Heidegger

OIL MAKING IN CHIANTI

«If the olive trees knew the hands that planted them, their oil would become tears.»
- Mahmoud Darwish

BIZARRE BEAUTY

«The idea of beauty does not descend into matter unless this is prepared as carefully as possible. This preparation consists of three things: arrangement, measure, and aspect or form.»
- Nicolas Poussin

TIMELESS BEAUTY

«The Tuscan countryside was built as a masterwork by a refined people: it is incredible how these men built their own rural landscapes as if they had no other concern than beauty.»
- Henri Desplanques

EIN JUWEL IM HERZEN VON NEAPEL

«Naples, what a strange city: to live it to its fullest we should erase all the surprises it offers you day after day, but then it would no longer be the same...»
- Giovanni Scafoglio

A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

«Lighthouses are endlessly suggestive signifiers of both human isolation and our ultimate connectedness to each other. »
- Virginia Woolf