Licio and I went out together on an exploratory trip to Norcia on Easter Saturday of 2017, some 5 months after the devastating earthquake of November 2016. We wanted to see if we could bring tourists to visit despite the extensive damage the town suffered, and in so doing contribute some revenue to the struggling businesses in rebuilding their economy. For lunch, I couldn't help but order the town's most famous pasta dish - alla Norcina - with their excellent sausage meat in a cream sauce topped with a generous helping of grated black truffle.

Licio is one of my many very faithful collaborators, without whom my business would never be what it is today. 

Some pictures just lend themselves to a wide horizontal layout. The format had its roots when I was preparing to take part in the NATAS travel fair in Singapore for the first time, and I wanted wide posters which I could use as panoramas and such, and eventually settled on a half-A1 size which would have fitted well with other A series posters I had. This one was probably one of the earlier ones to be printed, the picture being taken in October of 2011.

Fattoria San Donato was the first farm I ever took a groups to on an organised wine-tasting visit, and I have been a loyal collaborator with them ever since. Umberto and Federica, together with their three daughters and Federica's mother, run a vineyard and olive farm living in the tiny village of San Donato near San Gimignano, where many of the buildings are some 800 years old. 

Since I visit them while heading north on my way to Florence during my Magnificent Italy Tour in early December, this affords me the perfect opportunity to buy their freshly-pressed olive oil to give to my friends in Venice, as well as a few tins to bring back home with me at the end of the year.

The inspiration for this blog started with an exhibition of my photographs of Italy during the month of October of 2018 held at the APICS Italian Cultural Centre in Singapore The photographs exhibited were taken during my time living in Italy from 1987 to 1996, and of the many trips I have made there since then until that year.

And what could I possibly depict of Italy that I everyone else hasn't already photographed? As it turned out, plenty.

Of course, Italy is utterly stuffed with spectacular scenery and interesting subjects, so that in itself ensured that I would never run out of inspiration. But beyond this, there's also the fact that as a foreigner living there I also had the chance to see things a local might take for granted, as well as the chance to savour a particular moment that the casual tourist would have far less opportunity to do.

So here then, is a collection of pictures, not just of unusual places, but oftentimes of places which are more familiar but seen from a different angle, or under a different light, or in a different setting, or at a different moment. 

Capturing the moment. That elusive, special moment. That's the goal which I hope to achieve... one day.