Victoria

Dear Friends For many readers of Victoria, it was words penned by 2016 Writer-in-Residence Frances Mayes that first cast light on the charms of Italy. In Under the Tuscan Sun, she describes a particularly beautiful hilltop vista. Taking in the sights of the lush valley below swirling with fog and nearby trees laden with figs and pears leads her to surmise, “May summer last a hundred years.” In this issue, we visit the author’s adopted hometown, basking wistfullyin the golden glow that so captured her heart many years ago. July/August finds us exploring the byways of Cortona, an Italian village that you are certain to fall in love with on page 25. Come alongside as we peruse the wares of a local market on page 37, make an excursion to the birthplace…

Visit our website to read this issue’s online stories and to find more of the content you love. Take a closer look at some of our favorite July/August features: Traditions of Excellence Discover the inspiring heritage of Busatti, an Italian maker of luxury linens known around the world for quality workmanship and iconic signature style. Extending a Welcome Learn secrets of cultivating a lovely yet gracious milieu from Leslie Saeta—lifestyle blogger, social media influencer, and author of A Home to Share. Tastes of Summertime Including our refreshing recipe for Peaches Foster Ice Cream, find ten favorite dishes from the Victoria test kitchens that highlight our favorite stone fruit of the season. A Continuing Story Step into New Orleans emporiumKeil’s Antiques to learn about the most significant treasure in the cache of priceless gifts found here: an enduring family legacy. We…

I have always been in love with antique blue-and-white anything. Be they lovely bone china plates that feel like silk in my hands or majestic Chinese temple jars, I cherish them all. It’s interesting—I grew up in red rooms with no blue in sight. But there was something about the intricacy of the blue patterns: the peonies, court figures, dragons, and borders that often resembled lace caught my fancy and sparked my imagination. No other pattern looked as beautiful nor juxtaposed so well against any color. A few years ago, I heard a loud crash from my kitchen and was horrified to see that the top shelf of my dish cabinet had broken. Four shelves of gorgeous blue-and-white china now lay smashed on my kitchen tile. After a couple of tearful days, I…

I have always felt that old houses will tell you their stories if you let them. My suspicions have been confirmed by the manse I’ve only come to live in this past year: my big, drafty, beautiful old vicarage in Oxford, England, built in the year 1887. You need only sit in a real, companionable quiet; watch the way the light falls across the walls, notice the scuffs on the wooden floors, note the shadows where pictures have hung or children’s growth has been marked. The walls of an old house are soaked with the voices and stories of all the people who have laughed and wept in them; they bear traces of hands either careful or careless, hands that beautified, or sometimes didn’t. Occasionally a name is even left behind;…

As the incalescent days of summer settle into northern Virginia, gardens bear the brilliant hues and heady scents of the season. Situated less than an hour’s drive from Tallwood, the nation’s capital is gearing up for its annual extravaganza, while Jenny and her family are preparing to commemorate Independence Day—and husband Bret’s thirtieth year of service to our country—in her usual elegant style. “From the days of our founding, the American ideal has bound together those from different walks of life in a most poetic cause: liberty,” says Jenny. “As we are a military family, I hope I was able to capture something of that spirit with this tablescape.” Turning to Over The Moon, a favorite source for all things beautiful—especially difficult-to-find china patterns—she created a setting that perfectly portrays the…

“YOU MAY HAVETHE UNIVERSE IFI MAY HAVE ITALY.”—Giuseppe Verdi…