Urbino’s Fashion Night Out

An inside look at Urbino’s premier fashion show, the Sfilata Sotto Le Stelle.

The runway stretches into the distance down the rustic brick of Via Mazzini. A warm evening light creeps in from the arched entry at the foot of … Read More

The Alimentary Rule of Italian Shopping

Small grocers with fresh products survive in Italy.

URBINO, Italy - As a customer walks into the small, two-room grocery on Via Nicollo’ Pellipario asking for fresh peaches, shop owner Luigi Valentini greets her with a smile, steps from behind … Read More

Lost in Translation

Having American culture on your t-shirt seems pretty cool, whatever it means.

URBINO, Italy – Overheard in the classical Piazza della Repubblica are hundreds of Italian conversations. One young woman is seen wearing a t-shirt that says “Be Happy. It … Read More

Vespa: As Italian as Pizza and Spaghetti

Urbino Vespa rally draws hundreds to celebrate the iconic scooter.

URBINO, Italy – Sunday mornings in Urbino, a historic town in central Italy’s Le Marche region, are typically very quiet.

Most of the locally owned shops and cafés that line … Read More

UNInCanto: Urbino In Song

A new tradition two years running sets the streets of Urbino to music.

Voices crowd the air of Urbino’s streets in the early morning, each carrying a greeting, a jest, or a warning. The city is alive and awake.

In … Read More

Looking for a New Place

Drinking ban prompting students and city to compromise.

URBINO, Italy - Hanging above the main steps of the Piazza della Repubblica, a bright electronic sign shows a bottle with a red circle and slash through it followed by this warning … Read More

Kitchen-in-a-Closet

A lot of delicious food comes with your wine or beer at Happy Hour.

URBINO, Italy – Luigi “Gigi” Andreoli rushes back and forth between his small café and the outside areas it caters to. On the inside, Gigi and … Read More

Retroinnovazione

Learning about the art of cave-aged cheese from the Beltrami family.

CARTOCETO, Italy – Cristiana Beltrami was carefully approaching the cement-sealed mouth of a cave deep in the cellar of Palazzo Rusticucci when she turned to her visitors and whispered, … Read More

La Muta Speaks

A Raphael portrait, restored and less of a mystery, returns to his hometown.

URBINO, Italy – This is the birthplace of the Renaissance painter Raphael, but Urbino holds only three of his original paintings. One of these is a famous … Read More

Murder in Urbino?

Modern German TV mystery series shooting in historic town.

URBINO, Italy - Traffic cop Roberto Rossi had ducked into one of the tunnels beneath the Ducal Palace to cool off away from public view when he made a frightening discovery: … Read More

Reintroduction to Mountain Biking

Biking in Le Marche has its ups and downs.

URBINO, Italy - In the blink of an eye, my handlebars turned sharply left, bringing the bike to an abrupt stop, launching me into the blue Italian sky, arms outstretched to … Read More