Rachael Martin

1 Iris Garden, Florence

The symbol of Florence for 1,000 years, the iris graces the city’s coat of arms (although some insist it’s a lily). The place to see this flower, which blooms from late April to May, is at this garden managed by the Italian Iris Society, a multi-coloured spectacle of many old, rare and protected varieties set against one of Florence’s most beautiful views. Some 10,000 varieties are displayed here during the International Iris Competition, in May, which is followed by a...

There's more to Como than ritzy villas and celebrities. Head off the beaten path and you'll find a lake for all budgets and all seasons.

Lake Como – Liberty Style villas and gardens, pastel-coloured villages and mountains that plunge down into the lake. Pliny the Younger, Bryon, Stendhal, Goethe, Mark Twain, Gianni Versace and George Clooney all loved or love it.

Yet it’s not just a playground for the wealthy and famous. Get off the usual tourist trail and there are pleasant surprises galore....

For a Sunday lunch tradition that goes back centuries, head into the mountains north of Lake Como to find Italy's unique 'crotti' – natural grottoes serving hearty local fare.

A crotto is a type of mountain grotto, and Chiavenna is the lovely mountain town in Valchiavenna, above the northern end of Lake Como, where you can find them.

The name Chiavenna comes from the Latin clavis, key, a reference to the fact that the town lies between three mountain passes: Maloja Pass, Septimer Pass and Spl...

You may know your panettone from your pandoro, but what about other seasonal treats? Read on for a tour of Italy's regional Christmas cakes.
In Milan it’s all about the panettone, literally 'pan de toni' or Toni’s bread. Legend has it that Toni was the kitchen hand at the court of Ludovic Sforza, Duke of Milan. He burnt the cakes for dinner so threw together a type of medieval spiced bread and presented it at court. The court loved it and the panettone was born.
The origins of the pandoro ('p...

Just an hour from Rome, the Abruzzo town of Tagliacozzo feels much further back in time. Travel writer Rachael Martin goes in search of its traditions old and new.
Tagliacozzo, a small Abruzzan mountain town in the province of L'Aquila, is built into a crevice that cuts Mount Civita in two. Needless to say, it’s pretty breathtaking. Plus, it's reachable in just less than an hour from Rome.
It has a pretty impressive history. In ancient times, it was populated by the Marsi, an Italic people fa...

Courmayeur is rightly famous for its magnificent slopes, but there's more to this mountain resort than skiing. Travel writer Rachael Martin explores all this town at the foot of Italy's highest peak has to offer.
Courmayeur is one of the best-known ski resorts in Valle d’Aosta, the Italian north-western region that borders Switzerland and France. It’s popular with the international set, the Milanese and people from Turin, and has a breathtaking position at the foot of the Mont Blanc massif wi...

Twenty years ago Rachael Martin arrived in Italy, exploring the country by rail and dreaming of rooms with a view. Twenty years, one Italian husband and two kids later, she still has the memories of those first voyages of discovery…

It started early one morning with a train, a train that wound its way down across the flat plains south of Milan, past factories and abandoned warehouses, through the suburbs and then out past the cascine lombarde, those large square Lombardy farmhouses amidst mil...

Twenty years ago Rachael Martin arrived in Italy, exploring the country by rail and dreaming of rooms with a view. Twenty years, one Italian husband and two kids later, she still has the memories of those first voyages of discovery…
“What can I get you?” the woman on the other side of the counter asks me. My younger son immediately starts to recite a long list of all the various things he wants to eat. We’re in a panificio in Trastevere and there are trays of pizza in the counter below me, so...

Two decades ago Rachael Martin arrived in Italy, exploring the country by rail and dreaming of rooms with a view. Twenty years, one Italian husband and two kids later, she still has the memories of those first voyages of discovery…

I start off in Lecco, at the southern tip of Lake Como’s eastern leg, the part of the lake that is known as both Lake Lecco and Lake Lario. The setting is spectacular, a whole town framed by the dolomitic Grigne mountain range with its two peaks – Grignone, or Grig...

Two decades ago Rachael Martin arrived in Italy, exploring the country by rail and dreaming of rooms with a view. Twenty years, one Italian husband and two kids later, she still has the memories of those first voyages of discovery…
Life on the train today consists of a group of Spanish students, various young people and a middle-aged woman who asks if the seat opposite me is free. We’re at Porta Garibaldi station in the north of Milan, near the trendy Isola district and Porta Nuova with its s...

Two decades ago Rachael Martin arrived in Italy, exploring the country by rail and dreaming of rooms with a view. Twenty years, one Italian husband and two kids later, she still has the memories of those first voyages of discovery…
It’s that same scene every time I leave Milan early in the morning. There are the train tracks stretching out their possibility with grass in between, and there are the tall apartment blocks squashed up against the tracks holding lives lived out against noise and g...

Two decades ago Rachael Martin arrived in Italy, exploring the country by rail and dreaming of rooms with a view. Twenty years, one Italian husband and two kids later, she still has the memories of those first voyages of discovery…
When I first met my Italian husband he told me Liguria was for old people and families with small children, possibly because at the time we were young and didn’t have any children. Never believe your husband… (Or maybe it’s just that now we are the family with the ...

The last time I was in Rome I stayed in Testaccio, as recommended by a Roman friend. You'll love it, she told me, and she was right.
My room at B&B Testaccio looked over the square, Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice, with its church of the same name. It was a room with a view Testaccio-style of everyday Roman life with locals coming back from the market near the ancient Monte dei Cocci as the locals call Monte Testaccio, the hill made up of the terracotta pots that were dumped there during Ro...