Martin's Milan Blog

Great event this weekend in Milan we attended which was incredibly popular was an event around the Salone del Mobile international furniture design festival, and it highlighted the design area around via tortona.

We attended a number of events in the Zona Tortona area where a huge number of streets were crowded with people to see cool new furniture design setup in galleries close to porta genova.

It was really interesting to see the streets packed out to see new industrial design but very cool to see also, with a lot of it very affordable - such as the cool recyclable umbrella's above.

Some links with more info http://www.zonatortona.net/index.html

http://www.blackbookmag.com/article/milans-salone-del-mobile-zona-tortona/7307

Posted by martin4878 at 05:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (329) | TrackBacks (0)

We had a very relaxing break for Easter & my birthday staying in a small quiet rented apartment near San Gimignano in Toscana or "Chiantishire" as its known....and driving around eating, wine tasting and visiting the picturesque villages around.

To be honest, while the area is undoubtedly lovely, so far in Italy I've rarely seen so many tourists and signs, menu's & everything in english.  While obviously very handy it did detract from the experience a bit, and many other people we talked to found it a bit much.

We ate at two fantastic restaurants alongside all the other simply very good ones - Castello Banfi and Taverna Banfi http://www.banfi.it/ & the excellent Osteria del Vicario http://www.osteriadelvicario.it/2007/index.html on the 10th for a giant 800g Bistecca alla Fiorentina and a fantastic bottle of Brunello di Montalcino.  Truly recommended if your ever in the this neck of the woods....

Posted by martin4878 at 05:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

So after a really busy period at the business school with lots of assignments and some fun with exams on Strategy, Operations, Corporate Finance, HR & Accounting its now time to take a break and head off to Toscana for some nice wine with Silvia and the dog and try to do not very much at all....

We are staying not far from the Chianti area, and hope to try some Brunello di Montalcino amongst other wines.  Hope its a nice as La Morra (below) and the Barolo area we managed to spend a day in earlier this year...however weather forecast is rain....so we'll see....

Posted by martin4878 at 05:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (119) | TrackBacks (0)