A villa at Santa Caterina (Nardò)

Villas on the road from Nardò to Santa Caterina

Tom Dixon - Stevie Parle in Milan

For Design Week in Milan this year there are many venues. 

The one where Tom Dixon is showing and also has the

role of Art Director is the 'National Museum of Science

and Technology Leonardo Da Vinci' which was once an Olivetan

Monestary built in the early fifteenth century.

This evening a friend and I were lucky enough to get a table

for dinner in the beautiful halls of the ex monastery.

The chef who mastered our delicious meal of three starters,

one main course and two deserts was Stevie Parle who's

reputation is well earned if the food I just ate is anything to

go by. This was the first time I'd ever eaten the tips of hops 

plants in a salad, or monk's beard with fish...fantastic!  

Todays total experience in the Museum was a triumph of

sensual stimulation.

Il Castello di Zavattarello

 Castle entrance looking into the central courtyard.

The Well House and cool room of the castle 

View across the rickety drawbridge to the double doored entrance.
If the first door was penetrated the attackers risked have boiling
oil being poured upon them through a specially constructed hole
between the two doors.

Skyward view from the castle's central courtyard

Zavattarello in the provence of Pavia in the foothills of the Italian Apennines is a beautiful old 'Borgo Medioevale' looked  upon by it's castle which is perched on top of a hill. The castle, when it is floodlit at night viewed from the village below, appears to be floating in the night sky.