Published on Friday, February 10, 2017 by Kathy McCabe The Italy Mix is a regular post about the most interesting Italy and Italy travel news and human interest stories around the Web. Here are our top picks for this week: Venice In Winter:  This is actually the best season to visit La Serenissima - no heat, no crowds. (Stuff) UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Tuscany: From the Val d'Orcia to Florence, where to v...

Published on Tuesday, February 7, 2017 by Kathy McCabe With a grant from an Italian telecommunications company, restoration work on the Mausoleum of Augustus is finally set to begin. The mausoleum, built for Augustus, the first emperor of Rome, is more than 2,000 years old and has been showing its age due to neglect that has allowed it to become overgrown by grass and trees in recent decades. Among Augustus and other prom...

Published on Saturday, February 4, 2017 by Kathy McCabe Drawing inspiration from accommodations in Tokyo, Italy’s first capsule hotel opened in January in the Naples Capodichino Airport. Bed and Boarding, or “BenBo” for short, is open 24 hours every day and allows travelers to get nine hours of rest at night (11 p.m. to 8 a.m.) for 25€, or take a one-hour nap before a flight for 8€ (the second hour is 7€ and ...

Published on Tuesday, January 31, 2017 by Kathy McCabe The Prada Foundation opened a new photography gallery space in December, the Osservatorio, on the uppermost fifth and sixth floors of one of Milan’s most famous landmarks, the elegant Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The first and current exhibit, Give Me Yesterday, which runs through March 12, explores 21st-century photography as a diary and documentary medium and co...

Published on Friday, January 27, 2017 by Kathy McCabe The Pantheon, one of the few ancient Roman sites that does not charge admission, is mulling an entry fee beginning in 2018. Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini told ANSA the fee would be low, but did not say exactly how much the monument would charge. Around 7 million visitors came through the Pantheon in 2016, and according to Franceschini, the proposed entry...

Published on Monday, January 23, 2017 by Kathy McCabe In mid-January, an historic train took its inaugural journey from Naples to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Reggia di Caserta, offering a special day tour of Caserta’s 18th-century royal palace. The Reggia Express is a restored 1930s vintage train with an electric locomotive, and its three carriages can accommodate 234 passengers. The tour itinerary includes a...

Published on Thursday, January 19, 2017 by Kathy McCabe The Italian region of Lombardy has been chosen as one of the 2017 European Regions of Gastronomy, which aims to “showcase the gastronomic creativity, identity and dynamism of Europe’s regions” and to promote the integration between food, culture, creativity and tourism. The four cities in eastern Lombardy represented in the designation are Bergamo, Brescia, Crem...

Published on Sunday, January 15, 2017 by Kathy McCabe Following several powerful earthquakes in 2016, Italian art experts and scientists are concerning themselves with how to protect Florence’s treasured artwork, particularly Michelangelo’s David. While scientists, engineers, and art historians have studied David’s vulnerability for years, the issue is coming back into focus due to growing fears that it and other i...

Published on Tuesday, January 10, 2017 by Kathy McCabe The archaeological site at Antica Lavinium, an ancient city in the coastal village of Pratica di Mare south of Rome and located inside a farm owned by Borghese princes, opened to the public for the first time January 7th. Notable monuments at the site include 13 sacrificial altars, the Heroon of Aeneas, a ceremonial building and two kilns, all of which date back to th...

Published on Friday, January 6, 2017 by Kathy McCabe The Italy Mix is a regular post about the most interesting Italy and Italy travel news and human interest stories around the Web. Here are our top picks for this week: Dolomites Connection to WWII: This northern mountain range not only played a key role in World War I but the war that followed. (The Guardian) McDonald's Opens Near Vatican: Not everyone is hap...