#mediterranean-aesthetics

#mediterranean-aesthetics

Rome is famed for its rich history, iconic ancient landmarks, and delicious cuisine. When you're not working from an internet cafe or coworking space, you'll find yourself stepping back in time at the Colosseum or tucking into local cuisine.

Mosaico is a lively local haunt overlooking a church yard, where patrons can enjoy ouzo-meze and live Greek music while catching up on local gossip.

La Maddalena, Sardinia, is home to the first national park of Sardinia, featuring mostly undeveloped beaches and a vibrant main town with restaurants and shops.

By the end of the season, everything really hits the fan: Mindy might be engaged, but there's still tension with Alfie. It'll be interesting to see how that drama unfolds.

Puglia is known for its white-washed, time-stamped villages, dotted with generations-old trattorias and bougainvillaea-lined cobblestone streets, as well as its beautiful beaches.

Sperlonga, Italy, is home to fewer than 4,000 full-time residents, making it a prime place to go for some peace and solitude. Its shoreline is also a Blue Flag certified beach, meaning its water quality, sustainability, and environmental management practices are among the best in the world.

The button-up shirt is consistently my ultimate travel multitasker, bridging the gap between casual and sophisticated outfits throughout. The flowy silhouette keeps me cool during hot afternoons, but the crisp fabric looks polished enough for ship dining and evening strolls.

E-1027 is one of the most perfect examples of modernist architecture, with its hyper-functional design and nonexistent ornamentation, minimalist yet thoughtful and deeply attuned to its environment.

"It was in really bad shape, but I sensed its potential," he says. When his future client, a Swiss teacher who fell in love with the Italian Riviera, walked into his office, even she was skeptical. "Many people were," he continues. "It was an abandoned and damp property, but I convinced her. Now she's happy."

We have deployed several types of cooling systems here, each one used depending on climatic conditions. The system, created millennia ago but updated for the 21st century, works by cooling water underground in the naturally low temperatures at night. To cool water more quickly, some is also sent to the roof via solar-powered pumps and sprayed out of nozzles in a thin layer through a method known as a falling film, before draining back down underground.

With this season, we wanted to capture the feeling of being in the Mediterranean-the light, the energy, the colors of the coast. Travel, for me, has always been about the memories you create along the way, the moments that stay with you long after the trip ends. When designing this collection, we focused on translating that experience into the product itself, creating pieces that connect the spirit of the destination with the journeys our customers take.

The most successful musical release of 2008 transported audiences to the fictional Greek island of Kalokairi, where Donna and her daughter Sophie have built their lives.

Svalbard was ranked as the least crowded island in Europe, according to retreat booking platform BookRetreats.com, which looked at tourism patterns across Europe's islands. The study, which drew on European Commission data measuring overnight tourist stays per square kilometer, found Svalbard boasted just 2.4 overnight stays.

For a true sense of freedom and escape, nothing quite compares with an island getaway. Whether it's island hopping in Greece, exploring a Scandinavian archipelago by kayak or simply getting on a ferry to the Isle of Wight, we'd love to hear about your favourite European islands. The best tip of the week, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet wins a 200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays property the company has more than 3,000 worldwide.

One tenet of classical idealism is the idea that Roman and Greek statuary embodied an ideal of pure whiteness-a misconception modern sculptors perpetuated for hundreds of years by making busts and statues in polished white marble. But the truth is that both Greek statues and their Roman counterparts were originally brightly painted in riotous color.

"Piano piano" is an old Italian saying that sounds nonsensical, but is actually full of wisdom, especially if you, like me, are finding yourself wishing away these frigid winter days and hoping spring and summer gets here fast. These days, I've found myself rushing from one thing to the next, frustrated at the smallest things, from post office lines to just missing my train. And I'm ready to make a change.

Villa Lava is a private residence located in Santa Tecla, in the province of Acireale, on the eastern coast of Sicily. The project is a unique architectural blend of two houses in one single villa. On one side stands an old fisherman's house dating from around 1900, completely restored by Nábito Architects, maintaining its essential character and carefully uncovering and preserving the original lava stone vaults.

Athens is a city of beautiful contradictions. Michelin-starred dining rooms share sidewalk space with decades-old taverns. Modern rooftop bars overlook 2,000-year-old monuments. Everywhere you look, the past and present converge to create an unparalleled multilayered metropolis.

The building is composed of stacked and slightly offset volumes, generating a sense of tectonic layering across the elevation. This volumetric strategy introduces rhythm and variation while maintaining a coherent architectural order. Repetition is used as an organizing principle, allowing individual residential units to remain legible within the overall massing while contributing to a unified whole. all images courtesy of Georges Batzios Architects Repetition supports cohesion across the red hills building mass

On the final turn, Atrani appeared through a rock tunnel, its bridge illuminated against the purple night, houses cascading toward the Tyrrhenian Sea. Beneath the bridge, a narrow opening led to 80 whitewashed steps and winding passages to the lobby of our hotel, where the receptionist was waiting with a clunky key.

A new summerhouse by Biris-Tsiraki Architects rises above a rocky cape on Antiparos, facing the open Aegean and the island of Despotiko across the water. Set into a steep slope and exposed to northern winds, the house addresses sea, sky, and terrain with a measured architectural language shaped by orientation and movement. From the approach, the building reads as a composition aligned to horizon and topography.

Above: In praise of the sunny coverlet. Photograph by Hanna Grankvist, styling by Malena Burman, courtesy of Also Office, from Big Ambitions: A Clever Makeover for a 680-Square-Foot West Village Apartment. Speaking of sunny yellow, click see the cover reveal of Life Inside a Cottage, the new book by our sometime contributor Nell Card (and featuring this favorite!). Obsession of the week: Isabella Rossellini and a collaborator are making blankets and rugs from the wool of her Mama Farm sheep-and they're for sale.

During my recent 17-day trip there, I realized Ischia has everything its more popular neighbor offers - great shopping, a castle, beaches, a botanical garden - but with fewer tourists. Here's why it belongs on your Italy itinerary.

Among the Pontine Islands, Palmarola emerges as an unspoiled, scenically unique land. You'll find no big luxury resorts, loud clubs, or lines of restaurants. There aren't even any paved roads, or an established electrical grid-and there's certainly limited telephone coverage, so forget working from home. However, the lack of modern amenities means less traffic and crowds.