We’re not usually into labels that tell us that they’re designed to be worn ‘at the most exclusive beaches and hotspots of the summer’ but Myo are based in Como, Italy, so we’ll excuse them. Started earlier this year by brothers David and William Fattal, Myo is a new luxury brand of men’s resort wear that wouldn’t look out of place on Jude Law’s character in The Talented Mr Ripley.

These shorts are made for guys who don’t just wear boat shoes because they’re cool and hipster. They’re made for guys who wear boat shoes because at any given time they might be on a boat and goddamn it those decks can be slippery.
The ace of spades, footprints and harpoon gun motifs are not printed onto the board shorts and are instead woven into the Italian Jacquard fabric, making them super soft and super exxy. So if you’ve got some sweet cash money to spare, we suggest you pop your boat shoes on and go find yourself an exclusive beach.

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This large and very detailed illustrated map of Italy and its wines for Carniato Europe is by French artist, Antoine Corbineau.

Italian-made Tie-ups is the first belt to be wholly realized in fine plastics: resistant, flexible and with a minimal and versatile design. Tie-ups is an accessory adding a note of freshness and innovation to any clothing style, and is ecological, recyclable, and waterproof.

Look closely at the walls of the Diga del Cingino dam in Italy, at the small brown dots that line the grainy surface. They are European Ibex and they live in these remarkable gravity defying surrounds, eating the moss and lichen and licking the salt off the dam wall.

I first saw Permanent Food magazine while I was in Santa Monica furniture shopping. I walked into the store looking for a new desk but ended up sitting on a overpriced couch flipping through Permanent Food instead.

Needless to say, I didn’t get a new desk, but I did get addicted to this magazine. Permanent Food is essentially a magazine made up of images from other magazines. What results is a collection of random images placed together to reveal clever witty stories that lead the reader down a shocking pathway of awesomeness. The magazine can be found not only online, but at random book, clothing, and food stores all over the world.

Except Italy, where incidentally, Permanent Food magazine comes from. To add even more randomness and mystery to this magazine, there is also no editorial board and no offices. Somehow this magazine just appears at stores and online. If a picture is worth a thousand words, Permanent Food is worth gold. So buy it and enjoy.

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If I could read Italian and I were living northern Italy, I’d hang out a bunch in this beautiful and futuristic library designed by Aquili Alberg Architects.

Sweethearts around the world are fixing padlocks to fences and public monuments as a sign of their eternal love. This tradition is said to have originated during the 1960s when Italian soldiers began sticking their wardrobe padlocks to Florence’s Ponte Vecchio bridge. Ah. There’s nothing like a public proclamation of wild, crazy love to warm your heart!

Drinking your daily milk quota just got a whole lot more fun with the milk vending machine. Latte crudo alla spina, as they are known in Italy, are small huts dispensing fresh, unpasteurized milk on tap. So popular are they, you can now find over a thousand milk huts spotted across the boot.

Here’s how it works: milk, fresh from the cows of local farms, is transported to the vending machines in the wee hours of the morning. In true Italian style you ride your bicycle, at anytime of the day, to your local ‘milk hut’. Then for 1 euro, a liter of pure, white, fresh milk pours into your glass bottle. The milk is divine, any milk connoisseurs dream; rich, creamy and reminiscent of yesteryears. The hut itself is quirky and charming with their illuminated latte signs. So next time you find yourself in Italy dying for a glass of fresh milk, or if just want to check out these cute little huts visit the milk map to find your closest latte crudo alla spina.

How’s this for an everyday box of chocolates? Designed by Riccardo Fattore, the packaging of new wave Italian chocolatiers La Molina is just as wonderful as the product itself. This forty-piece praline box contains a delicious selection of handmade dark, milk and white pralines in a luxurious mix of pistachio, orange, walnut, passionfruit and gianduja chocolates.

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New York City-based photographer Alessandro Zuek Simonetti was born in Italy and grew up parallel to the urban street cultures of the early 90s. His own distinct photographic language reflects his deep interest in young niche cultures. Quite often, each project stretches beyond the photographic medium, which serves as a sign of his maturing expression as an artist.

This necklace has been handmade in Italy by Paola Volpi. No longer are zips merely a functioning necessity for apparel, this unique necklace has been created from original gold zippers and thick transparent acrylic threading.

These rings are handmade in Italy by Ashanti Raffaele Cinzio and come in a set of three, shaped flat and polished in a brushed finish. One sterling silver, one yellow bronze and one rose bronze. The rings individually measure 2mm height on the thin side and raise gradually around the ring to a height of 50mm to the feature side. As a set, the total band width consistently measures 7mm.

Revive that vintage sixties look with a pair of Italian gold square aviator frames by Silver Lining Opticians. These babies are available in two lens types: slick sunglasses or clear lenses for that ultra smooth, hot nerd look. The optical boutique also stock more than 6,000 never-worn vintage frames, including 500 one-of-a-kind shades by Persol, Balenciaga, and many more independent designers and labels.

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Officially, Avec is first and foremost a wine bar. Yet, a few minutes in this vibrant, energetic Chicago-based space and it’s quickly evident that it’s so much more. Set in a long, narrow honey-colored room wrapped in cedar and hickory, with five communal tables and red oak seating, the atmosphere is loud and boisterous, filled with lively conversation and music to match. Within this James Beard Award Winning designed room, rustic cuisine, charcuterie, and cheese from the Mediterranean regions of Southern France, Portugal, Italy, and Spain are served as small and large plates.

The wood-oven, roasted flavors that dominant the menu are rich and representative of local foods, like Chorizo-stuffed Medjool dates and prosciutto with peaches, ricotta, and mint. And of course as a wine bar, Avec’s list is abundant with over 130 affordable bottles from the region and 30-plus wines available by the glass to encourage tastings and experimentation. The long lines around Avec speak to the success of their formula (and their no-reservation policy), but if you’re not in the mood to wait for hours, check out their equally intriguing, more formal – and expensive – sister-restaurant, Blackbird, just next door.

Italy is one of those places where every town, village, and city claims to have the best restaurant in the country. And while the majority of eateries are knockout, I’m pretty confident that despite all the grandiose claims, one of the best restaurants is hidden in the deep south in Puglia, at an unassuming ten-table family-run joint. Yet, at Antichi Sapori, it is not this quaintness that wows you, appealing as it is, but it is the food that is fall-off-your-chair unreal at this tiny spot. Everything here is fresh, local, handmade, still warm, just picked, first-pressed, or perfectly ripe.

The foods are simple, understated even, but the flavors untouchable and with an intensity and depth that borders on the absurd. Handmade ricottas are light and velvety; homemade pepperoni and dried sausages are peppery and perfectly fatty; local black olives are served blistering hot; and bruschetta is smothered in the restaurant’s own olive oil.

This is a mere sampling of the smorgasbord that patrons are served into the wee hours. Granted, there is nothing hip or stylish or trendy about this place — although Puglia is making a name for itself as an off-the-beaten-path sort of hot spot — but once you are at Antichi Sapori, all that matters is the food.

Many years ago, the Italian designer Fupete and I collaborated on an issue of the magazine I was editing at the time, STU, his intricate art direction giving space and life to the cacophony of illustrations and photography bursting from its pages. The guy is one hell of an art director, and a brilliant designer as well, his latest work revealing his well-developed sense of shape and texture, which meshes seamlessly with his subtle use of color gradients.

I just came back from teaching a week-long illustration workshop in Venice, Italy. After finish up the class each evening, the students and I often ran to our favourite gelateria in town, Nico. If they pretend they don’t understand your English, be nice and try to speak a little Italian. Just read the names of the tastes you want, followed by ‘Per Favore!’ You can sit by the large seating area at the dock, but the local way of enjoying their superb gelato is to hold the cone in your hand and take a walk along the promenade overlooking the canal and Giudecca Island across the water. Ah, so Venice.

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Clusters of mysterious balloons, packs of terrifying cats, bunnies, and burning people, and other absurd or abstract elements haunt Andrea Galvani’s beautiful and eerie landscape photos. The Italian artist’s work seems to comment on man’s hand in altering nature.

There’s just one word that applies to the work of Italian illustrator, Andreco: brilliant. Though what strange, twisted thoughts race through his mind are a mystery. Of his work, he says: ‘I make drawings, paint and create video, with a special black humor. Maybe it’s not always easy to understand’. Hmmm. Maybe.

The Italian architect with the English name, David Fisher, has arrived in Dubai and brought with him this building that literally does a lot on its site. Expect to see more of this as we see energy production melding with living. Here Fisher has created 78 floors that individually move, allowing the occupier to enjoy the sunrise at breakfast and sunset at dinner from the same chair. There are 77 horizontal wind turbines, one between each floor, that are claimed to generate more energy than is required by the building. Perhaps most interesting is the individual floors that are produced off-site in a factory and then delivered to site and winched up the onsite constructed concrete core.