La Bella Vita is our regular look at the real culture of Italy – from language to cuisine, manners to art. This new newsletter will be published weekly and you can receive it directly to your inbox, by going to newsletter preferences in ‘My Account’ or follow the instructions in the newsletter box below.

Most of us see Tuscany’s famous rolling landscapes mainly from the road. Some of us explore it on foot. But there’s a more unusual way to get your fix of the region’s stunning rural scenery, without a motorway toll station in sight.

Spring is the best time of year to board the treno natura, a restored 1920s steam train which tours impossibly beautiful parts of Tuscany on day trips starting from Florence or Siena. Many of these trips are themed, for example around local wines or historical topics.

From the archives, here’s my own experience of travelling through the Val D’Orcia’s fields, forests and vineyards on the reopened heritage railway to sample some lesser-known local wines, and how you can do the same if you like the sound of it:

Weekend Wanderlust: Siena and a steam train ride through wine country

Coming from one of the world’s more industrialised countries – and from the world’s first industrial city, no less – I have to admit that I’m no stranger to processed food. My childhood diet in 1990s northern England was more white sliced bread and baked beans than handmade tagliatelle. (These days, I’ve gone from one extreme to the other and spend my weekends attempting to get my in-laws to teach me how to make sugo from homegrown tomatoes at the family’s farmhouse in rural Puglia.)

So, from my perspective, any talk among Italians of food in Italy becoming industrialised or ‘Americanised’ is a little perplexing. The usual small selection of a dozen jars of ready-made pesto and a box of frozen lasagne in your average Italian supermarket does not seem to constitute a national obesity crisis waiting to happen. 

Are Italy’s culinary traditions threatened by ‘American-style’ fast food? Photo by Jorge Zapata on Unsplash

But even I had to sit up and take notice this week when, firstly, US multinational Starbucks announced that not only is it expanding across Rome but into other parts of southern Italy – including Bari, where I live, after its resounding success in the north. Secondly, our reporter Silvia Marchetti dug up some eye-opening statistics about changing Italian shopping habits: the number of takeaways, ready meals, and other convenience foods consumed here really is on the rise. 

In her article this week, Silvia asks: is the country now seeing a major shift towards a heavily processed, American-style diet – and what does this mean for Italian food traditions? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments below the article.

Starbucks and supermarket sugo: Is Italian food getting more ‘American’?

Staying on the subject of supermarkets: it’s easy to imagine that Italians exclusively drink fine wines carefully selected from the curated shelves of their local enoteca. And some probably do. But, like the rest of us, most will also often grab a bottle to go with dinner while doing the supermarket shop.

So does this mean Italian supermarkets tend to stock a superior range of wines? How much do shoppers have to worry about picking a dud? And which ‘price point’ should you be looking at for the best value for money?

Here’s what one Italian wine expert told us about choosing the best affordable bottles in Italy’s supermarkets.

REVEALED: How to choose the best wine in Italian supermarkets

And for lovers of the Italian language: like most contemporary languages, modern Italian was born out of centuries of interactions with other nations and cultures, and the range of foreign influences on its vocabulary reflects the country’s rich history.

From English to Arabic, German to Spanish, here are the foreign origins of just a few common Italian words – some of which might surprise you. 

Ten Italian words that come from other languages

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Is there an aspect of the Italian way of life you’d like to see us write more about? Please email me at [email protected].