Welcome to Our Archive

Author: Tamela Rich

Italy by Motorcycle: Negotiating with a Greve in Chianti Shopkeeper

The "gallo nero" (black cockerel) is everywhere in the Chianti region. This one is in the Piazza Matteotti.
After leaving San Gimignano we head to Greve in Chianti, the birthplace of Giovanni da Verrazzano. He is famous for being the first  European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between Florida and Newfoundland, and for discovering the New York Bay in 1524. This discovery is why the bridge spanning the Narrows between Brooklyn and Staten Island bears his name.

Tuscany Italy by Motorcycle: San Gimignano

werewolf at the torture museum
I awake on the third day of my tour in a 17th-century country house and it occurs to me that human beings have been conceived, born, lived, and died in this very room for over 400 years. The walls are freshly-painted plaster, their yellow hue the perfect shade for the faint early morning light.