needoptic
needoptic

Italy

Catching the last rays of sun across a few magical spots in Italy - Milan, Umbria, Como.

Photo essay

40 photographs

1 minute to read

Umbrella pines in morning fog above a pool with sun loungers, a ruined tower faint in the mist.

Milan is our favorite city from the few times we’ve visited Italy. It’s a living, breathing, working city that’s unlike the outdoor museum of Florence. Great for people watching in the fashion district, world class dining, and businessmen pounding espresso on every street corner.

A scooter rider in a white helmet waits beside an orange and cream Milan tram, a passenger visible in the window above.
A cappuccino with latte art and a glass of orange juice on a leather placemat at a cafe table.
Shoppers stream across a striped crosswalk on a cobbled Milan street outside glowing corner boutiques at dusk.
People ride and walk past rental bikes on a sunlit Milan sidewalk beside a cafe with red stools.
A person in a cream scarf walks a golden dog across a Milan crosswalk, a classical facade with a statue niche behind.
A sharply dressed person in a fedora, glasses and striped trousers stands in a marble doorway with an iron gate.
A red vintage Ferrari crosses tram tracks on a cobbled Milan street as a crowd waits by shop windows and a yellow van.
Cyclists and pedestrians on a wide cobbled Milan street lined with grand buildings, leading to a castle tower at sunset.

Hotel Castello di Reschio, Umbria

Only the fondest memories from this special place. The prettiest, most cohesive hospitality experience where we were taken back a few hundred years Umbria, went hunting for truffles, and learned about the qualities of good olive oil. Reschio is a living estate, shaped over more than three decades with love, rigour and vision. The Bolza family settled in Italy and made Reschio, an over one thousand year old estate, their home in the mid 1980s. What began as the restoration of crumbling ruins gradually evolved into a deeply personal project, one that weaves together architecture, design and family life with a profound commitment to the land.

Umbrella pines frame a reflecting pool and a pale stone villa on a green lawn at Castello di Reschio.
A small round stone tower draped in vines sits on a grassy slope among tall pines.
Tall umbrella pines and soft hills mirrored in a still pool in warm evening light.
A curving drive lined with umbrella pines and cypresses leads to a terracotta farmhouse in the Umbrian countryside.
A warm terracotta courtyard with a stone fireplace, dried flower arrangements and chairs draped in plaid blankets under an arch.
A white horse peers out of an open wooden stable door, the blurred edge of a wall in the foreground.
Two wrought iron chairs with striped cushions and a small table outside a rust-red wall with weathered wooden shutters.
A white sculpted horse head stands in a misty cobbled courtyard before an ochre building with arched wooden doors and cypresses.
A child sits at a wooden table behind a row of cobalt blue tasting glasses in a dim, candlelit room.
An adult leans over a table set with blue glasses beside a seated child, tall steel-framed windows glowing with greenery.
A person in a waxed jacket and cravat leads an olive oil tasting at a table lined with bottles.
Understanding the lifecycle of making and appreciating olive oil.
A stone church with a bell tower and a lit doorway beside a cypress-lined drive at blue hour.
An adult and a child follow a truffle hunter and his dog through a sunlit autumn woodland.
A truffle hunter digs in the leaf-covered forest floor as a shaggy dog waits beside him.
A smiling child in rubber boots holds out a freshly found truffle in cupped hands on a forest trail.

Hunting for truffles!

Lake Como

Two people dine on a shaded terrace above a pool with striped umbrellas, Lake Como and hazy mountains beyond.
A child stands beside an orange vintage open-top car with wicker seats on a patterned pebble drive by Lake Como.
A tall umbrella pine and cypresses rise over a lush lawn with yellow parasols and lounge chairs by the lake.
An adult in sunglasses and a child lean against the back of an orange vintage car with a wicker basket on the rear.
Cushioned lounge chairs under a fringed yellow umbrella on a green lawn before an ivy-covered villa.
A white villa with dark wooden balconies sits at the water's edge beneath steep autumn-coloured hills on Lake Como.
Looking up from under a fringed red floral parasol at a still pool, a lakeside terrace and mountains beyond.
Overhead view of the polished wooden bow of a vintage motorboat moored beside a striped post on dark water.
An adult and a child stand at the end of a wooden jetty among moored boats, hills and a lakeside town ahead.
A small motorboat crosses grey choppy water on Lake Como below a large mountain and a low, cloudy sky.
A child reclines on the cream cushions at the stern of a speeding boat, a white wake curling toward the mountains.
Dark wooded mountains slope down to Lake Como under soft clouds, a small town tucked along the far shore.
A grand stone villa with arched boathouses and a tall tower rises from the water against a wooded hillside.
A pale yellow villa with lush gardens and a stone boat arch sits on the shore beneath green mountains.
An ochre lakeside building and stone bell tower below terraced green hills, seen from the water.
An adult and a child sit in the cream seats of a boat, the adult gazing out over the lake and a hillside town.
A colourful hillside town on Lake Como seen past the blurred profiles of an adult and a child riding in a boat.