There is an Italy that doesn't immediately meet the eye.

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It is hidden in a hand gesture, a passing comment, a way of doing things, or even a local festivity. It is the Italy we don't necessarily discover until we begin to pay attention.

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Italy has retained some extraordinary ways of life, ways of thinking and ways of doing things that have all but disappeared from modern life elsewhere. These hidden aspects exist quietly alongside smartphones, plasma televisions and the new Fiat 500. They are so much a part of everyday life that no one even stops to notice them.

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But for those of us who look a little closer, they offer an insight into a culture, a way of being, a lifestyle and a country that has somehow remained old and become new all at the same time.

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And perhaps this is part of the magic of Italy. The old and the new, the familiar and the inexplicable, existing side by side in a way that feels entirely natural.

 

Perhaps it is also what makes Italy's pull so powerful for so many of us. We feel it, sometimes quite deeply, without being able to explain exactly why.

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This is the Italy I want to share with you through Postcards from Italy. Not simply the places we recognise, but the stories, traditions and little moments that reveal something of the country beneath the surface.

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Because sometimes, the most extraordinary things are the ones we almost miss.