The triumph of Giorgia Meloni
Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government this weekend became the longest surviving Italian government since the fall of fascism in 1945. It…
Praying mantises are more like women than scientists think
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna The night as ever was bloody hot and in the words of Dylan Thomas ‘bible black’ when…
I want to be a good father – like Machiavelli
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna When Machiavelli was tortured, then banished from Florence in 1513 to his modest farm in the Tuscan…
Why have the Rolling Stones not been cancelled?
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna I was on my way to buy a bougainvillea from the plant shop with my middle son,…
Why this wasn’t Italy’s George Floyd moment
For a brief moment I thought that the death this week in Bologna of a Moroccan, face-down on the tarmac,…
The wolves are at my door
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna I was at the wheel of the Land Rover Defender on the mile-long dirt track that leads…
The British spy at the heart of Italy’s Churchill conspiracy theory
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna In an attempt to avoid the infernal heat and the rhythmic maracas-style racket of the cicadas in…
Is this Italian general a threat to Giorgia Meloni?
There seems little doubt now that Giorgia Meloni’s government will survive until 4 September and so become the longest lasting…
Why is the Italian media spreading fake news about Churchill?
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna I know that, as the heat intensifies, you want me to write about the highly trained nudists…
My beautiful friend’s beautiful manifesto
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna When I was still beautiful, a famous Italian TV art historian and politician chose me to be…
The truth about the peacocks of Punta Marina
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna Daily life in Punta Marina, the next little town but one from me here on the Adriatic…
Our local nudists are running wild
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna It was midnight, more or less, and my middle daughter, Magdalena, 18, said with all the untroubled…
Meloni is being haunted by the ghost of Berlusconi
The late Silvio Berlusconi has come back from the dead – momentarily, it is hoped – to torment Italian Prime…
My heated argument about Italy’s birthrate
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna We were having dinner in the Osteria del Tempo Perso (The Hostelry of Lost Time). It is…
Will my Italian family finally support England in the world cup?
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna I was at the wheel of our Land Rover Defender on Wednesday with my middle daughter Magdalena…
Italy is now stuck in the legal dark ages
Giorgia Meloni has suffered the first significant defeat of her three-and-a-half-year premiership. The Italians have roundly rejected her plans to…
The Epstein Files, the naked communist, and me
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna I was parked up in the Land Rover Defender on the narrow road that runs alongside the…
Has Giorgia Meloni really turned against Donald Trump?
I often think that the dissemination of news is like a game of Chinese Whispers. Giorgia Meloni, for instance, has…
How the culture war came for the Italian opera house
The Italian communist philosopher Antonio Gramsci taught that for the revolution to succeed it should conquer the means of thought…
My wild house parties with Rose Wylie
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna I rang up my old best friend, Luke-John, for a chat a few days ago and to…
My family is divided on the meaning of ‘genocide’
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna We were en route to the junk shop in search of a pair of robust tongs for…
Could our chicken-killing dog sniff out a fortune?
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna Maria, the boisterous new vizsla who gives the old one, Rocco, such a hard time, was in…
Why Brigitte Bardot terrified men
My teenage self was right. Brigitte Bardot, who died this weekend, symbolised sex and freedom. It’s why I had a…
The Italian approach to cheating
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna The unseasonably warm wind blowing in across the fields from the brooding Adriatic caused my wife Carla…
My family dinner table debates about Gaza
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna I was in the Land Rover Defender with Rita, my youngest daughter (16), parked up near Dante’s…
