Italy
Good time girls: Italian women prefer sunglasses to babies, according to Nicholas Farrell
Like so many Britons who chased the dream and woke up in Italy I have contemplated writing a book about…
Nigel Farage’s diary: How I survived Dry January
Dry January is tougher than it sounds. Well, for me anyway. It’s now been some 28 days since I’ve had…
The benefits of breeding like a rabbit
Why I’m glad to have five children, with a sixth on the way
Pippa Middleton on wine, fishing and Kim Kardashian
A few days ago I went truffle hunting in Piedmont. It’s been a bumper year for white truffles in northern…
Spectator letters: Richard Ingrams defends Joan Littlewood, and the truth about Napoleon’s poisonous wallpaper
The state of Italy… Sir: Ambassador Terracciano’s letter (Letters, 1 November) about Nicholas Farrell’s article (‘The dying man of Europe’,…
The shameful truth: Britain lets in far too few refugees
Britain’s appalling record on refugees is a moral failure, and national disgrace
Letters: In defence of Italy, and the rise and fall of the military moustache
Italy’s to-do list Sir: You would expect a long letter of rebuttal by a piqued senior diplomat in response to…
How Italy failed the stress test (and Emilio Botín didn’t)
Continuing last week’s theme, it was the Italian banks — with nine fails, four still requiring capital injections — that…
The one economic indicator that never stops rising: meet the Negroni Index
This dispatch comes to you from Venice — where I arrived at sunset on the Orient Express. More of that…
Italy’s in terminal decline, and no one has the guts to stop it
Italy is in terminal decline
Prue Leith’s diary: I want to be green, but I’ve got some flights to take first…
‘Please God, make me good, but not yet.’ I know the feeling. As I get older and more deeply retired,…
Ezra Pound – the fascist years
‘There are the Alps. What is there to say about them?/ They don’t make sense. Fatal glaciers, crags cranks climb,…
Italy is killing refugees with kindness
Italy’s decriminalising of illegal immigration has acted as a green light to boat people, and the journey is a deadly one
Pizza, choc-ice and Leonardos – the treasures of Turin
Laura Gascoigne enjoys a grand tour of Italy’s former capital city
The Italians are disgusted with our holidaymakers
As the holidays draw to a close, Italian newspapers have been reporting with perplexity and distaste on the outlandish behaviour…
How Richard Wilson made Wales beautiful
‘I recollect nothing so much as a solemn — bright — warm — fresh landscape by Wilson, which swims in…
If you want real stress, move to the country
It’s much more stressful to live in the country than in a town. There are always threats of one kind…
Brave, noble, forgotten – the other side of Italy's second world war
At the time of the armistice of September 1943, when the kingdom of Italy formally transferred its allegiance from the…
Harry’s Bar, where a slice of cake costs €32 – and is worth it
Harry’s Bar is a dull pale box. This is remarkable in Venice, which is a hospice for dying palaces, held…
The mathematical revolution behind ‘the greatest picture in the world’
The Indian inspiration with which Piero della Francesca created ‘the greatest picture in the world’
Clarissa Tan's Notebook: Why I stopped drinking petrol
Florence was in fog the day I arrived. Its buildings were bathed in white cloud, its people moved as though…
Christmas past in Spectator letters
This is a selection of seasonal letters from The Spectator’s 185-year archive, now online at archive.spectator.co.uk. The emblem to the…
Alexander Chancellor: I don’t like traffic jams or lager louts but that doesn’t mean I hate Britain
The Italians are often thought of as being unpatriotic, and one can see why. They relentlessly denigrate their national institutions,…
Italians for Maggie
The Circolo Culturale Margaret Thatcher, which wants to institute an Anglo-Saxon Tory party in Italy, has a plan
Letters: James Whitaker’s widow answers Toby Young
Absent friends Sir: Alec Marsh (‘Welcome to Big Venice’, 10 August) accurately observes that Londoners are priced out of central…
