A New Cadre Of Young Winemakers Emerges In The Land Of Brunello. Here's One Of Our Three Favorites.
Lorenzo Magnelli is the great grandson of Fiorella Biondi Santi who was Franco Biondi Santi's sister. She had inherited the land from her...
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Ed Riddell
- Apr 25
- 2 min
A Most Extraordinary Dining Adventure at Ristorante Piera e Beppe (ps-that's not the real name).
Casa Boscherini At Home Restaurant in the Apennine Mountains high above the upper reaches of the Arno River.
Ed Riddell
- Apr 21
- 1 min
La Santissima Colazione Di Pasquetta In Montisi (and no, that's not really the Pope).
Every Monday the day after Easter there is La Santissima Colazione Di Pasquetta in Montisi, a hill town nearby Montalcino. Loosely...
Ed Riddell
- Apr 18
- 2 min
It's Dawn In Italy (and it's been a long hard night).
Italy is back after two years of Covid lockdowns.
Ed Riddell
- Apr 29, 2021
- 1 min
You Can't Believe How Green It Is In Tuscany Now. Here's Why.
One of the many reasons we like coming to Tuscany, and especially the Val D'Orcia and Montalcino in spring, is that the rolling hills...
Ed Riddell
- Mar 10, 2021
- 1 min
The Beautiful East Coast Of Italy On The Adriatic Sea.
None of the tourist guides talk much about the east coast of Italy. Mostly you hear about the Amalfi Coast or Cinque Terre on the west...
Ed Riddell
- Feb 24, 2021
- 1 min
Olive Oil Heaven
In 2018 our olive orchard at Villa Palazzetta produced 100 liters of extra virgin gold. In 2019 Tuscany had an infestation of flies and...
Ed Riddell
- Feb 21, 2021
- 1 min
What I Did Last October At Villa Palazzetta During Our Mandatory 14-Day Self Quarantine
This video is made from 39 still images selected from more than 500 cloud photos taken during our 14-day Covid self-quarantine at the...
Ed Riddell
- Feb 14, 2021
- 2 min
Look Who Recently Came To (And Made) Dinner At Our Beautiful Villa.
Giada de Laurentiis, Bobby Flay and a big film crew spent a week filming an episode for their new series in September of 2019 (before...
Ed Riddell
- Jul 2, 2020
- 2 min
Yes, There Is Life In Italy. And Our Garden Is Living Proof Of That. Thanks To Matteo And Lisa Jane.
Yes, there is life in Italy.
Ed Riddell
- Mar 11, 2020
- 2 min
And Recently Voted One of the Ten Best Restaurants in Tuscany? Our neighbors at Locanda Demetra.
Our friends and neighbors at Locanda Demetra started their farm-to-table restaurant a few years back. It used to be easy to show up and...
Ed Riddell
- Jan 26, 2020
- 2 min
Truffle Hunt! As in White Truffle in Central Tuscany. And No, We Can't Tell You Exactly Where.
This all started innocently enough. Lisa Jane's mom and dad, Linda and Mario, invited us to dinner at their house in Siena. Mario, or...
Ed Riddell
- Dec 10, 2019
- 1 min
Our Hero. As in Chef Hiro.
Now we have two chefs to indulge our pleasures at Villa Palazzetta. First is our adopted nonna, Chef Paola, who makes traditional...
Ed Riddell
- Nov 19, 2019
- 2 min
In Search of the Elusive "Wild" Tortellini in La Grassa, Otherwise Known as Bologna.
If you've never eaten Bolognese tortellini in brodo you simply must add this experience to your culinary bucket list.
Ed Riddell
- Apr 23, 2019
- 2 min
A Birth In The Family
We bought Villa Palazzetta because of its incredible location only five minutes walk from the historic city center. We also bought it...
Ed Riddell
- Apr 8, 2019
- 1 min
Welcome Home!
We arrived this spring on April 7th after visiting Matera, an ancient town in southern Italy that was just named one of the Cultural...
Ed Riddell
- Apr 1, 2019
- 2 min
A Note From Our First Official Guests
In March our first official guests visited Villa Palazzetta. The note they left in our guestbook says it all. But Maryellen, one of the...
Ed Riddell
- Nov 14, 2018
- 1 min
Our Ape Calessino
If you been to an Italian hill town then you've seen Piaggios. After WWII Piaggio invented this small engine, three wheel vehicle as an...
Ed Riddell
- Oct 26, 2018
- 1 min
Olive Oil - Start to Finish
Another fall means another olive oil harvest. Matteo Turchi our fantastic groundskeeper did a fabulous job with this year's olive crop....
Ed Riddell
- Oct 18, 2018
- 1 min
To Elba Under Sail
In October several of took a lovely day trip on a 45 foot sailboat from Portiglioni to Elba. It was a perfect day. We left Montalcino at...