on the road in November

lambretta field trips 2
km 81
somewhere beautiful the foliage ride in the Cansiglio forest, loveliest spot for momijigari and a little picnic {read the post}
somewhere fun a local vinyl fair, where we filled our lambretta basket with old/new records
temperature sweatshirt, parka, gloves, scarf and a beanie under the helmet are needed

foliage ride and hot chocolate picnic. November, Sunday 1st

 when it doesn't get all foggy, wet and grey, autumn can spoil you with days like this one. 

analogue walk in Belluno. October, Saturday 11th

if you've enjoyed the little guide of Belluno, here's some other film photos i took the same day, after a cool lambretta ride, during our explorative walk with Valentina.

wish you a great week  
♥

graffiti | Belluno | fujicolor 200

how we celebrated the Redentore in Venice on a sail boat: the video!

do you remeber when i told you about the weekend we spent sailing in Venice?

it has been an amazing experience we had the chance to to thanks to Antlos, a brand new start up that was filming a web series in the Mediterranean sea and asked us to play a little part in it.

Belluno | a little guide

i felt it was about time to write some more practical posts about this little corner of Italy where we live in. i didn't want them to be too dry and schematic, i want them to have the same amount of inspirational stuff and charm that a regular post of this blog has. we asked a friend to be our local guide for one day and we had fun playing the tourists, listening, taking pictures and sketching.

the result is this little guide to Belluno, completely i diari della lambretta style: there are insiders tips, illustrations, film photos and some reasons to fall in love with the town. enjoy!

ponte della vittoria {victory bridge} and a look to the city centre | fujicolor 200

on the road in October

17.10.2015 Santa Croce lake

Mercanti in Viaggio, handmade & vintage fair. October, Sunday 11th

vintage decor stall | vscocam

Marco found out about Mercanti in Viaggio last spring, when he wanted to take me there for a weekend for my birthday. due to prior commitments though, we weren't able to make it. the name means travelling merchants, and it's a vintage and handmade fair held at Castello Quistini, a gorgeous villa in a town called Rovato. it has a spring and a fall edition, in april and october, every year.

ENI village in Borca di Cadore. October, Saturday 10th

i've been wanting to visit the ENI village for a long time. it opens to the public just on special occasions, and i was thrilled to finally see a guided tour organized by Progetto Borca on a day we could attend. 

we rode to Borca di Cadore {near Cortina d'Ampezzo, in the amazing Dolomites} by lambretta.

given the cold and gloomy day, it was kind of risky, but in the end we were able to make a lambretta field trip out of it. 

we enjoy visiting places like this one, that we consider the most special and interesting, even more when we visit them by scooter.

harvest time in the Prosecco hills

homemade cableway to carry the grapes | Combai | VSCOcam 

even if you don't work in the wine sector, when you live in a wine region, harvest time affects you.
you run late cause you've been stuck behind a tractor while driving to work. everyone at your local bar is talking about sugar levels, acidity, weather. you see people dressed up like scarecrows on their way to the vineyard. and the grape is shimmering, it tries to catch your eye in any way, all puffed up and proud.

autumn. to - do list

i'm fond of lists. even too much, i suppose. i make lists all the time. to-do lists help me staying focused and working on myself. i usually do better with short term list, checking all the boxes. long term to do lists tend to lose their relevancy after some time {i don't even recognize my own dreams when, in december, i re-read the to-do list i wrote in january}. then, there are bucket lists, things i love lists, and more! do you make lists? what kind?

this is the third illustrated autumn to-do list in a row. i love to put all the sweetest autumn plans into that, in order to be excited for the new season instead of being nostalgic for summer.

on the road in September

on the road to Pordenone. ph. Alessandro Venier 

7 reasons we will visit Sicilia again {plus: a BIG news!}

why everyone should visit Sicily it's quite obvious. if you can't figure it out yet you either a) don't have enough informations b) are insensitive to beauty.

anyway, i feel that one time is not enough either. Sicily is a region you should visit over and over again. here, i tell you why we will.

charming Marzamemi

July, Saturday 18th. Venice seen from a sail boat

it was going to be just a regular weekend for us. but then the phone rang, and i was asked if Marco and i were up to a field trip to Venice. why not?

Venezia seen from the water | Punta della Dogana | kodak ektar 100

from Sicilia with love: travel souvenirs

choosing, collecting, arranging travel souvenirs is a form of art. 

in my everyday life i do love to be surrounded by things that remind me of the time away from home. little pieces from other realities, far and different, that from a certain point had become part of mine. i dedicated an entire post to the most loved of my souvenirs de voyage.  

our road trip in Sicily as well, brought back home some precious mementos. let me show them to you. 

Sicilan colour palette

Noto | Sicilian baroque colour palette

in Sicily, it was the first time i kept an illustrated travel journal updated while we were on the road. the drawings and the coloring of the ones i did before, were made after coming back home.

analogue walk in Palermo

i've never been to a city that resembled Palermo. anyway, as people usually approach new things by comparing them to what's already known, i immediately thought the city has the same decadent charm and distracted elegance that Lisbon and Venice somehow have. but it's also pompous and proud as Rome can be. the open air markets are loud and picturesque, the traffic on the roads is a nightmare. they reminded me of Morocco.

on the road in August

Ponte nelle Alpi 9.08.2015

what makes the difference is people

the back of the cottage, the blue entrance to our apartment | nikon F801s + Kodak Ektar 100

i have already told you something about how special our staying in the southern corner of Sicily had been. i have to admit, it was hard to leave.

now, one month after we came back from our Sicilia trip, when i think about it, the first images that occur to me come from our days over there: wandering around Pachino countryside, exploring Vendicari Natural Reserve, drinking aperitivo in Marzamemi, watching the pretty wooden boats in Portopalo di Capo Passero, having gelato in Noto, walking on the seaside, the cottage's blue doors, cozy porch and hammock... ♥

Sicilia on the road, 10 days and 2 wheels

after i had  the 101 film photos developed, my travel journal scanned and i finished the watercolor illustrated map last night, it's time to talk about our road trip in Sicilia, and i'm still not sure i have the right words for this.

Sicily is overwhelming.
there is so much to do and to see {and to eat} in this blessed island that 10 days can be considered as the first, inebriating, sip.

this post is meant to be for anyone who is curious about details and organization of our trip, who is going to visit Sicily soon, or is planning a road trip by vintage scooter.
enjoy!

Sicilia by lambretta watercolor map

July, Friday 17th. a dance with the honey bees

Andrea Paternoster, beekeper, and the honey bees of Borgoluce apiary

their flight is a dance, their voice is vibrant, they are hard workers, skilled in the art of good taste, they are gourmand and love flowers, they are team players, they are the best example of girl power, they vouch for an intact natural environment.

I spent a morning with the honeybees.

alpine botanical garden in Cansiglio. July, Sunday 12th

donkeys on our way back from the Cansiglio alpine botanical garden

how many amazing things we did in July! it confirms itself as my favorite month. i cannot wait to tell you everything about our Sicilia road trip, but we're not quite there yet. {i shared a little preview on Steller yesterday though}

during hot summer days i amore even more grateful than usual that we live so close to the mountains. just a quick lambretta ride and we can step into the enchanting Cansiglio forest, the closest green getaway. 

let's go: Sicilia by lambretta. July, Wednesday 22nd

another summer, another great lambretta adventure.

we're leaving today, destination Sicily!

June, glimpses of Bordeaux

in june I had the chance to see Bordeaux and the surroundings during a business trip.
here I'm sharing with you some of the (very few) moments I had to play the tourist.
{all pics are taken with my phone and processed with vscocam}

Flanders on the road | Gent & Oudenaarde

maybe the lovelies view on the river, taken from Grasburg

do not be fooled by similar geometry and architecture, Brugge and Gent have different souls. 

the first is a medieval gem, romantic and cozy, Gent is definitely more lively, fresher and vibrant. 

June, Sunday 7th. brent de l'art, multi coloured wild canyon

when the heat is unbearable, we are grateful to live so close to the mountains, so we can jump on the lambretta and ride to a cooler place, like brent de l'art in Trichiana.

Flanders on the road | 3 things we won't forget about Brugge

Brugge has a timeless charme. every corner screams romance.
there are horse carriages, chocolate, tiny alleys, fairytales-like houses, bridges, canals, pretty doors, flowers, cobblestones, and so on.
besides the sentimentalism though, there are 3 things we won't forget about our visit to the town.

Brugge Begijnhof and the tree huts of Kawamata Tadashi

Flanders on the road | analogue walk in Brugge

Flanders on the road - watercolor map 

at the beginning of May, Marco and i took a few days off to visit the Flanders.

we visited Brugge, Gent and Oudenaarde, moving around mostly by train. we ate too much potato fries and were absolutely delighted by the beautiful flemish light.

here, you can find our first impressions of Brugge {Bruges in french}, the first stage of our little tour, all analogue, exept one.

Sunday, April 12th. discovering silk farming in Vittorio Veneto

the silkworm museum - Museo del Baco da Seta in Vittorio Veneto

Siena, made for travellers. February 21st - 22nd

Palazzo Pubblico - town hall in piazza del Campo

Siena is the Palio and the Palio is Siena. the first of the two most famous horse races in the world took place yesterday, July 2nd, as it has been for centuries, being the Palio di Siena the oldest continually hold festival ever. 

on the road in June

28.06.2015

Monday, June 1st. the handmade amusement park in the forest

osteria ai pioppi by lambretta | vscocam

sometimes the most incredible places are the closest  to home. for us, this is definitively one of the cases.

the biggest slide of the park | vscocam

la pappa col pomodoro. a dish with groovy sixties vibes

Rita Pavone is an italian singer and showgirl that used to be very popular in the sixties. she was an icon, like an italian Twiggy {plus, she could dance}.
some of her hits had been embedded in italian pop culture, so even an eighties kid like me know them by line. one of her songs is called viva la pappa col pomodoro, where the pappa col pomodoro is a traditional tuscan soup, made by bread, tomatoes, garlic and fresh basil.
until a few weeks ago, i had never tasted it!

on the road in March

spring means many things. among them, for me it means the beginning of an hopefully long lambretta season. and of a new, monthly series, to look back to the time spent on the road in the past thirty days or so.

march hasn't been so generous with sunny days, and i also spent a few days away for work, but we made our best out of the rest of the weekends.

14.03.2015 

ink your travel

it's time to share a news with all of you. a news i've been looking forward to tell you for weeks, about a project i delevoped with Irene {travel blogger at viachesiva.it}in the last few months.

it's about drawing, it's about travelling. 

so, let me finally introduce you Ink your Travel, a mini-collection of hand drawn t-shirts, designed for travellers.

we chose the first day of spring to be our big day - the launch - , cause we think it may bring luck. so many lovely things happen in spring, don't they?

Venetian stories: Marisa and her glass beads

Marisa workshop in sestiere San Marco 

© Italian Stories

Venice is small. it has the size of a town. but, behind any door, an entire world could open up for you, like stepping in Marisa's workshop, in sestiere San Marco. 
quirky wallpaper, old books, pictures, necklaces, china porcelain cups filled with glass beads, coral branches made of glass beads, velvet slippers embroidered with glass beads. glass beads everywhere! a small, colorful world. and Marisa sits in the middle of it, her desk well lighted by an old fashion chandelier and a lamp, her hands weaving, embroidering, stitching fast, among hundreds of small variously shaped and colored beads. 

Venezia neighborhoods | San Marco in analogue

from the family photo album - San Marco square

1. my granpa and his father in the 40s | 2. my mum, my aunt, uncle and me, 1989

 3. me feeding pigeons (it is not allowed anymore), 1993 | 4. me and my sister feeding pigeons again (you can easlily understand why it is not allowed anymore), 1996 | 5. marco chasing pigeons, 1985 

Venezia, an introduction

there is a novel, called the Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino, where the venetian explorer Marco Polo has a long conversation with the emperor Kublai Khan, telling him tales about cities and exploring the imagination. then, you'll find this dialogue:

"Sire {Marco Polo to Kublai Khan}, now I have told you about all the cities I know."
"There is still one of which you never speak"
Marco Polo bowed his head.
"Venezia" the Khan said.
Marco smiled. "What else do you believe I have been talking to you about?"

Lyon #3 city cycling

our last day in Lyon was devoted to explore the Rive Gauche, beyond the left bank of the Rhone. since we already knew how to orient ourselves in the city, we rent a bike to wander around. from the day our arrive we were aware that Lyon is a real bike friendly town, with handy bicycle paths and a developed bike culture that makes cycling there safer than in other part of the world (e.g. Italy). 

which coffee are you?

to properly greet a new monday morning, i’d like to talk about the most classic of all italian classics {even more classically italian than lambretta} : espresso and his large coffee family.

what does coffee mean to you? 

espresso is made by forcing hot water under high pressure through ground coffee

Lyon #2 the gourmand side

a detail of  la Fresque des Lyonnais, a trompe l'œil painted wall depicting 31 famous people from Lyon, as the Lumiere brothers and Antoine de Saint Exupéry 

Lyon #1 analogue walking tour

illustrated map of Vieux Lyon
my first attempt to make a ink + watercolors travel sketch 

analogue Orvieto. November, Saturday 15th

orvieto represents perfectly the kind of city that i like.
i really hoped that my wandering in its charming streets would last longer, but i managed to take a few analogue shoots to show you, who might share my enthusiasm for the striped duomo, the small craft shops, the shady taverns and elegant cafes.

torta al testo, the umbrian flatbread

© Enogastronomia in Umbria

during my weekend in Umbria i had the chance to deepen my knowledge on the (delicious) local cuisine, thanks to a workshop which aimed to introduce Enogastronomia in Umbria {ita | eng}, an application to promote tourism and gastronomy of the region, through its food and wine specialities.