Welcome to The Painted Palazzo and welcome back to 50yearsinItaly!

As many of  you know, or perhaps suspected due to the  prolonged silence, my award-winning blog about lifestyle and happenings in  central Italy was hacked or blocked for over a year. 
Now the problem  seems to be resolved and I will be back with information about happenings,  travel tips and tales of life in our wonderful part of central Italy. 

This forced suspension  gave me time to dedicate to a new book, The Painted Palazzo/Il Palazzo Dipinto which came out at the end of May.   This is the 7th  book  I have published  about  this area known as Etruria and its fascinating history. 
 Here is the painting commissioned to Kelly Medford  which graces the cover. 

 It is in both English and Italian so a great help  for those wishing to improve their  second language.

Here is what the Palazzo Piatti looks like today.  You can read reviews and order copies  directly from the Books page of  my website  .

The book was unofficially presented during the 2 day conference  "Fascinazione Etrusca"  which took place at the end of May  in Capranica and Vetralla. 

Here are the organizers of the successful conference: myself, Luciano Dottarelli, Francesca Ceci and Stephan Steingraber. The photo  was taken in front of the double funerary monument of the Anguillara counts, in Capranica's  San Francesco church. 

Thanks to many talented friends, photographers, artists, translators and  contributors  who helped to make this new book a beautiful reality.  Here is one of the many photos by Venice-based photographer Eva Ohtonen showing the gardens of the painted palazzo, known as the Secret Garden and Opera Extravaganza which holds concerts there. 

 The book tells the story of the Piatti family  who had the painted palazzo built  and the many  connections with  the famous sculptor Pietro Canonica.  Here  is a self-portrait of the artist,  taken in his studio, a  castle like structure located  in Rome's Villa Borghese.

 A painting by Pietro Canonica, showing Vetralla on the skyline.

 Read  about  both books  on  the BOOKS  page  of my website .  Spread  the word  by liking and sharing on social media.